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UÇKHistory and Memory
Life: 1948 –

Analytical profile · Political leaders · Political prisoners

Azem Vllasi

Azem Vllasi was one of the Albanian leaders of the League of Communists of Kosovo in the 1980s. His removal from the provincial leadership in November 1988 was one of the causes of the Trepça miners' march. In March 1989, at the height of the crisis over the constitutional changes, he was arrested and tried on political charges; he was later released. In the postwar years he remained a public figure and a lawyer.

Also known as: Azem Vlasi

Editorial status: Awaiting verificationDrafted from the cited sources; not yet fully reviewed by the editors.

Living person — personal information is deliberately limited.

Source basis

Academic monographs on Kosovo in the 1980s; public roles only.

Vllasi's fall from power was part of the process by which Serbia's new leadership under Slobodan Milošević replaced Kosovo's Albanian cadres with people more willing to accept the curtailment of autonomy [1] [2].

The miners' march and the Trepça hunger strike demanded, among other things, that the province's chosen leadership be kept. His arrest in March 1989 came in the same weeks as the adoption of the constitutional changes [1]. The exact date of his release requires verification.

Sources

  1. [1]Noel Malcolm. Kosovo: A Short History. HarperPerennial, New York (botim i përditësuar); botimi i parë: Macmillan, Londër, 1998, 1999. https://archive.org/details/kosovoshorthisto0000malc. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  2. [2]Miranda Vickers. Between Serb and Albanian: A History of Kosovo. Hurst & Company (Londër) / Columbia University Press (New York), 1998.· Awaiting verification

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