On Wednesday, the 26th anniversary of the liberation of Skenderaj, around 50 km from Kosovo’s capital Prishtina, mayor Fadil Nura declared the UK journalist Vaughan Smith an “Honorary Citizen” for his reporting of the 1998-99 Kosovo war.

“Mr. Smith, through your footage, the world saw the crime that was taking place here and saw a part of our history,” Nura announced.

From March 5 to 7, 1998, Smith witnessed the incident that marked the beginning of the 1998-99 Kosovo war when Serbian forces assaulted the complex of Kosovo Liberation Army co-founder Adem Jashari in the village of Prekaz.

After Smith’s footage was broadcast, many other international media outlets started to report on what was happening in Kosovo, and to focus on subsequent massacres in Abri in September 1998 and Recak in January 1999—an incident that helped convince NATO to intervene militarily two months later to end Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s repression.

Smith, founder of London’s Frontline Club, said in his acceptance speech that, “[he felt privileged] to witness what happened here. What I saw left an indelible mark on my heart. The people here have shown a level of courage and sacrifice for this country.The sacrifice of the Jashari family in Prekaz was not only tragic but also transformative. When I come and see you, I also see Adem Jashari in your soul and the nation you have built with sacrifices.”

In March 2022, in an exclusive interview for BIRN and Internews Kosova’s TV Programme Kallxo Përnime, Smith said, “I saw the Serbian forces. I didn’t know where it was or what was happening but it was a kind of police operation and military attack.”

A total of 59 people, including women and children, were killed in the assault by Serbian police from March 5 to 7.

On March 6, Smith returned to the area, drawn by smoke rising into the sky.

“I climbed a hill and I had to crawl about 100 metres in front of me with a huge camera—and then I saw the attack,” he said to Kallxo Përnime in 2022.

Smith later donated the car he used while reporting the 1998-99 Kosovo war to BIRN’s ‘Reporting House’ exhibition in Pristina, with audio of him telling the car’s story. The exhibition, which explores media coverage of the war in Kosovo, opened on June 10, 2024, and has received 9,452 visitors since then.

The ‘Honorary Citizen’ title was also awarded to US citizen Benito Mares for his contribution to raising public awareness of the events in Kosovo, but also as the creator and financier of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, martyrs’ complex in Mares.