The villagers of Lesok marked the 19th anniversary of the gun battle in which Gjoko Lazarevski was killed during the 2001 war. Lazarevski, a native of the village, was a reserve police officer at a time when the village was attacked by members of the NLA/UCK terrorist group led by Ali Ahmeti.

Lazarevski (then 29) remained in the village to protect the withdrawal of his neighbors in face of the advancing UCK. He was killed in a mortar attack. A month later, the UCK blew up the fabled Lesok monastery.

Ahmeti and the other UCK commanders received pardons for their war crimes as part of the Ohrid peace treaty. Yesterday he announced that he was summoned before the special war crimes prosecutors in the Hague who have mandate over the Kosovo war, insisting that he is going there in capacity of witness.