aziz kelmendi (; born 15 january 1967 in lipljan, sfr yugoslavia) was a kosovo albanian conscript in the yugoslav people's army (jna). yugoslav authorities described him as a "misfit and loner". prior to his military service, he was arrested and imprisoned from 2–17 april 1984 for allegedly attempting to leave yugoslavia and go to albania. at his trial hearing he reportedly said "albania is my country, not yugoslavia. i want to go there and live and fight for our goals!". his conviction included also for nationalistic behaviour at high school and university. he disliked learning serbo-croatian. prior to the killings, he had two arguments with a soldier named safet dudaković.