The Facebook page "Gazeta NewBorn" published a video on October 8th showing images of the city of Pristina, filmed in 1997.
This 30-minute long video, among other things, shows footage inside a cafeteria in which it is claimed, without supporting evidence, that Albin Kurti, currently the Prime Minister of Kosovo and leader of the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV), was among many people.
In the description that this page has made of the video content of this material, it is stated that the time when this footage was made was the period when the war in Kosovo had begun.
"In 1997, when the war in Kosovo had begun, Albin Kurti is seen in a video having fun in a nightclub in Pristina," writes in the video description.
Link to the video posted by the "NewBorn Newspaper" Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=632892841611352
From the research conducted by hibrid.info, it is understood that the claim made by this site is not true. The inconsistency of the claim is understood immediately after comparing the periods of publication of the video content with that of the beginning of the war in Kosovo. The war in Kosovo, based on international reports, is officially considered to have started on February 28, 1998, when Serbian military and paramilitary forces launched attacks on the two villages of Qirez and Likoshan, while on March 5 they killed 59 members of the Jashari family, including the KLA commander, Adem Jashari. (see here (Human Rights Watch report on page 40)
In another report in English published by "Reliefweb.int", it is written:
“The decision to exclude the Kosovo issue from the Dayton negotiations, and the lack of results achieved by the non-violent strategy, led many Kosovo Albanians to conclude that violence was the only way to attract international attention. It was during this period that the KLA groups first emerged. Until the end of 1997, they were small resistance groups pursuing hit-and-run, low-level guerrilla warfare, hoping for international intervention. The Serbian response to the initial KLA attacks was, as expected, brutal and was also directed against civilians. The Serbian massacre of 58 people in Prekaz in February 1998 became a turning point. The internal war escalated. The Serbian response to the initial KLA attacks was, as expected, brutal and was also directed against civilians. The Serbian massacre of 58 people in Prekaz in February 1998 1998 was a turning point. The civil war escalated. The Serbian response to the initial KLA attacks was, as expected, brutal and was also directed against civilians. The Serbian massacre of 58 people in Prekaz in February 1998 was a turning point. The civil war escalated.”, says among other things in the report published by "Reliefweb.int", translated into Albanian. (see here)
Another Facebook page called "Gazeta Prishtina" has published an image taken from this video claiming to be Albin Kurti, while adding another claim that Nazim Bllaca, accused of involvement in criminal activities after the war in Kosovo, is found near him. (see here)
The page "Gazeta Prishtina" in the description of this photo writes:
"What is Nazim Bllaca looking for near Albin Kurti?"
In a video that was shared on social networks during 1997 in a nightclub in Pristina related to the ABC affair, Albin Kurti is also seen. But what was not noticed is that Nazim Bllaca is also seen there next to Albin Kurti.
"If the video is verified and if it is Nazim Bllaca, then Albin Kurti should be questioned about what connected him to a UDB agent at that time."
The posts made by these two Facebook pages, after research conducted through online search engines, hibrid.info has managed to understand that they are based solely on images taken from a video published on October 2, 2021 by a YouTube channel called "Serbian Mapper" (see here).
The video shows images of Pristina in 1997 on February 23 and March 11.
In this nearly 30-minute long video, in addition to the environment inside this cafeteria, other images of Pristina at that time are also presented.
Focusing further on the post and its content, it is noted that, apart from these unclear images, the authors of these posts have not provided any supporting facts to substantiate the claim made.
From what is presented in the video, even after several attempts at identification through applications based on Artificial Intelligence, hibrid.info has not managed to accurately confirm the identity of the persons alleged to be Kurti and Bllaca.
Analyze:
The "NewBorn Newspaper" Facebook page has published a post with images of a 1997 video in a café in Pristina, allegedly featuring Albin Kurti and Nazim Bllaca.
The description of this video states that Kurti was having fun in a cafeteria during 1997 at the time when, as claimed, the war in Kosovo had begun.
Another Facebook page has raised another claim regarding this image, stating that Kurti was in this cafe together with Nazim Bllaca.
The two claims made by these pages turn out to be incorrect. Based on fact-checking, hibrid.info finds that, like the claim that Kurti and Bllaca appear in the image, as well as the claim about the period of the war in Kosovo, they are not based on facts.
In the images presented, the author has difficulty identifying the persons they claim to be. Also, the claim about the period of the war is incorrect since, according to international reports, the war is officially considered to have begun at the end of February 1998 and not 1997 as stated in the caption.
Unable to verify the claims made, hibrid.info has rated them as "Unverified Content".
Reasoning:
The “Unverified” rating is given to those media reports that do not provide sufficient information to confirm the claims made in the report, and which have not been able to confirm the same due to the lack or non-possession of reliable sources.