Bujar Bukoshi, a former Kosovo independence leader who for years headed a self-proclaimed government-in-exile, died early Tuesday morning after a long illness, his family said. He was 78.

He died in Germany, where he was being treated for cancer and receiving financial support from the Albanian government, according to his family.

Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani expressed deep regret for the loss of “a visionary physician and a statesman of unparalleled dedication.”

“Dr. Bukoshi, former Prime Minister in Exile, will forever be remembered for his contributions to strengthening the cause of a free and independent Kosovo in the most difficult times for our people,” she wrote in a letter of condolence to his family.

A respected physician and surgeon, Bukoshi helped to found the Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, in 1989 alongside Ibrahim Rugova, who was later president of Kosovo.

Shortly after receiving his medical degree at Belgrade’s Medical School University, Bukoshi went into exile, where he raised funds to run parallel governing institutions to peacefully defy the late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s repressive rule in Kosovo, a former Serbian province.

(Source: AFP)