Ibrahim Rugova

Ibrahim Rugova is the president of autonomous province Kosovo. He founded the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) when Serbia put an end to the autonomy of the province in 1989. He declared himself in favor of non violence and was elected president of Kosovo in 1992 and through clandestine elections in 1998. In 1999 he was sentenced to house arrest in Pristina by the Serbian authority but he went to Italy. He returned when NATO forced Serbia to withdraw its troops from Kosovo where the LDK had a majority in the municipal elections (monitored by the UN). In 2002, he was made head of the autonomous province which wanted the real independence and in 2004 he was elected president.