TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Kosovo's prime minister says that former independence fighters should not humiliate Kosovo by hiding, impeding or avoiding justice.

Ramush Haradinaj, himself a former commander, wrote Wednesday on Facebook that the independence war was "clean and sacred."

Kosovo's bloody war for independence ended with a 78-day NATO air campaign in June 1999, stopping a Serbian crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists.

An international Hague-based court has been created since 2015 to investigate former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army for crimes against ethnic Serbs from 1998 to 2000.

The court has yet to hear any cases. Local media have recently reported that some former Kosovo independence fighters have been asked to be questioned in The Hague and one has said he will not go.

Kosovo's 2008 independence is not recognized by Serbia.