Prishtinë, January 17, 2014 NOA.al – The Governmental Commission for recognition and verification of statuses of national martyr, war disabled, war veteran, and prisoners of war from the ranks of the Kosovo Liberation Army, as it was planned, has begun the verification on the ground of the applications, as well as their certification by commanding officers of subordinate units of the former Shala KLA Operative Zone.

The Commission said that 1691 applications from this area have been thoroughly verified, while the process is ongoing with the rest of applications from this area.

After joint work of former KLA commanders and members of the Commission, it was concluded that from 1691 applicants:

• 684 were approved as War Veterans; • 100 KLA soldiers were approved as War disabled; • 52 KLA soldiers fallen in war were approved as Martyrs; • 239 cases of other categories of persons involved in the War (Members, Participants); • 135 applications will be reviewed once again in different units; • 481 applications have been refused the status to any of these categories.

The Commission is continuing work for on-the-ground verification of applications, as well as their confirmation by commanding officers all subordinate units in other KLA former operational areas.