Wrote: Fatbardh Dema
Through one Photos where the Minister of Interior in Kosovo, Xhelal Sveçla, is seen sitting next to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Marko Đurić, it is claimed that this meeting took place before Concourse that the Vetëvendosje Movement held in Mitrovica on January 12, as part of the campaign for the February 9 parliamentary elections.
The post with this claim was published on Facebook by the account "Gollaku Gollaku" dated January 5th.
What did hibrid.info find?
After conducting online research, hibrid.info confirmed that the claim made by the aforementioned account is false and that the photo was taken in 2019.
This photograph was realized in 2019 during a conference on Regional Cooperation, organized by Council for Inclusive Governance (CIG) and the German Foreign Ministry, which was held in Tirana.
Regarding this photo, Sveçla herself had reacted at the time in account his official Facebook page, where he explained that representatives of many parliamentary political entities from the region participated in this conference and that the places and tables where the participants sat were assigned by the organizers, not the participants.
A little context about this meeting
The Council for Inclusive Governance (CIG), an international non-governmental organization based in the US, announced in a statement that it was organizing a two-day roundtable in Tirana, Albania, from 7 to 9 December 2019, attended by representatives of political parties from the Western Balkans. The discussions were said to address the challenges facing the region on its path to EU membership, as well as the role of political parties in implementing democratic reforms. The main supporter of CIG is the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, while this regional project is also supported by the German Foreign Ministry. (see here Koha.net article)
In addition to Sveçla, in the meeting with the Serbian official in the Albanian capital, Express had learned that there were also the elected MP from the ranks of the Democratic League of Kosovo, Arban Abrashi, and the vice president of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, also mayor of the Municipality of Gjakova, Ardian Gjini. (see here (GazetaExpress.com article)
Analyze:
A false claim was published on Facebook by the account “Gollaku Gollaku” on January 5, claiming that a photo showing Kosovo’s Interior Minister, Xhelal Sveçla, sitting next to Serbia’s Foreign Minister, Marko Đurić, was taken before the Vetëvendosje Movement rally in Mitrovica on January 12.
After research by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the photo in question is from 2019 and was taken during a Regional Cooperation conference in Tirana, organized by the Council for Inclusive Governance (CIG) and the German Foreign Ministry.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this claim as "Disinformation".
Reasoning:
"Disinformation" is defined as information content that contains a "mix" of inaccurate sources or even half-truthful attributes, and that is created and/or distributed with the deliberate intention of causing harm. The motive behind the producers/distributors of disinformation content lies in achieving a political, financial, psychological or social goal.