Alajdin Demiri

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Alajdin Demiri (born December 19, 1954 in Tetovo, Republic of Macedonia) is famous for his role as mayor in the 1997 uprising in Tetovo and Gostivar, by ethnic Albanians for which he was later sentenced to two years in prison.

From 1973 until 1977, he studied sociology in Sarajevo, Bosnia. From 1977 to 1978, he worked in Skopje for the television station as a reporter and political commentator in the Albanian-language department. From 1978-1983 and 1983-1988, he taught sociology and philosophy at a high school in Tetovo and then worked at the town library, eventually being released from both professions for 'political reasons'. From 1990-1995, he studied French in Lausanne, Switzerland, eventually returning in 1995 to be the spokesman of PDPA (Democratic Party of Albanian Prosperity). As part of the PDPA, he was elected mayor of Tetovo in 1997. He took part in the uprisings in 1997 and was sentenced to two years in prison for the uprising. The European Parliament called for his release.