Categories: #fake news, #spreading fake news, #misinformation, #unverified content
President Hashim Thaçi's statement that family members of the Speaker of the Parliament, Vjosa Osmani, collaborated with the Serbian regime during the nineties has been described as an untrue statement by the latter.
President Thaçi, during a long interview on journalist Adriatik Kelmendi's "Rubikon" show on Klan Kosova, said that members of Parliament Speaker Osmani's family served Serbia during that time.
During the same period, various online media outlets in the country, not credible, published articles stating that the father of the first speaker of the Assembly, named Raif Osmani, "worked in Mitrovica until 1993 as head of the people's defense section in the Yugoslav People's Army."
Below you can read the verification of the accuracy of this news and President Thaçi's statement.
Fake news
"Vjosa Osmani's father, Raif Osmani, worked in Mitrovica until 1993 as head of the people's defense section in the Yugoslav People's Army.
LDK has not previously verified the purity of the image of Ms. Osmani and her family members, writes arbresh.info.
Such a figure at the head of the legislature does not honor the lawmaking process, thus deepening the dissatisfaction among the political representatives represented in the Assembly.
Vjosa Osmani has not provided any clarifications about her father's participation in the Yugoslav army, considering that some Albanians continued to work in the institutions of that time even after Albanians were excluded from their jobs.
Some Albanians continued to work in some sectors even until 1999, but this was not viewed negatively either then or now.
Dissatisfaction with Vjosa Osmani has also been expressed by the Democratic Party of Kosovo, due to the relocation of the photograph of the president, Hashim Thaçi, replacing it with the photograph of the late former president, Ibrahim Rugova.
Links to this news shared by several online media:
(Some media outlets have managed to remove these publications by the time hibrid.info's fact-checking analysis was conducted)
Disclaimer:
President Thaçi's statement and the publications of these media outlets have been denied by the Speaker of the Parliament, Vjosa Osmani, her father, and the head of the regional center of the KMDLNJ in Mitrovica, Halit Barani. They have called these claims untrue and slanderous.
Some of the publications of these statements:
Verification:
After analyzing these news and statements, the hibrid.info staff has managed to characterize President Thaçi's statement and the publications of the claims in the media as fake news, distribution of fake news, disinformation and unverified content.
Reasoning:
Fake news – both the statement and the media publications do not document the claims with any facts, and the same have been denied by both the attacked persons, as well as representatives of relevant institutions.
Spreading fake news – various media outlets have distributed this news without verifying the sources.
disinformation – President Thaçi's statement, as well as media reports, have failed to prove accuracy, due to a lack of sources.
Unverified content – just like the media through the publication of the news, President Thaçi has claimed something, without having arguments that complement these claims.