Twenty Eight Years in Prison for Kosovo "Freedom"
Often described as "the Mandela of the Balkans," Demaci gives the impression of a man who thinks he has "sacrificed" himself for a big cause, something he never regrets.
Demaci, 67 -- who gladly accepted such a nickname, after South African leader Nelson Mandela, incarcerated for 27 years -- keeps smiling whenever he remembers his long time behind bars, marred with unfathomable suffering.
"This is the same smile that left my entourage flabbergasted when a sentence was pronounced. Yes, I felt satisfaction. The world, I was sure, would become interested in Kosovo. I became a symbol," Demaci told AFP.
His first sentence was issued in 1958: Three years in prison for "hostile propaganda" towards the regime of former Yugoslav communist leader Josip Broz Tito.
In 1964, another sentence: This time, 15 years of imprisonment for forming the first political force able to "gather most of the people," the revolutionary movement for the Union of the Albanians, he said.
"Even then, an armed struggle was not excluded," this long-time dissident explained.
The sentence was reduced to 10 years, but Demaci was again arrested on October 6, 1975, just 15 months after he left the prison. In January 1976, he was again sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment.
"This time, the charges were groundless. But, for the authorities, I represented a threat. They wanted to neutralize me," Demaci explained.
Demaci has suffered torture, cold, all the pangs of life in a cell. But he never felt doubt or discouragement, he said.
"I think of my life as a mission. I have managed to overcome the misery of daily life," he insisted.
But the most painful memory is that of being held with common law criminals and mentally ill people.
"All in all, I spent only one year with other political opponents (of the regime). The goal of the authorities was to break me. My guards kept repeating: `You will leave your bones here'," he said.
To avoid such an environment, Demaci, faced with "provocations," sometimes made his jailors keep him in complete isolation.
"For five years, I lived like this. I felt good! Nobody annoyed me. I sank deep in my thoughts, with my memories, my imagination. I felt free!" he slowly explained.
In 1990, he returned to life outside the prison.
But his combative energy was still intact. Eight years later, he became the political representative of the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), whose rebels were fighting troops of then president Slobodan Milosevic.
Serbia, of which Albanian-dominated Kosovo is officially part, "imprisoned us and fought against us," Demaci said.
"Such an attitude allowed the Albanians here to forge their conscience for freedom," he said.
Demaci studied literature in Belgrade, and has so far published numerous books, including poetry. In 1991, the international community praised his incessant struggle for freedom with the Andrei Sakharov prize. In future, Demaci does not exclude possible high-ranking functions, like being president of an independent Kosovo, if he is really given the means to influence "the destiny of the country."
Demaci considers that "Serbia has lost its moral right to run Kosovo," but he promises a return of the Serbs who have fled their homes in the province.
"I do not feel any hate towards them," he insisted, risking clashes with his compatriots.
Nowadays in Pristina, Demaci heads a "committee for tolerance and coexistence" of different ethnic groups.
"The prison can make you insane, but to me, it has brought wisdom," Demaci said.