"Gülenists", the appeal returns the case of Driton Gashi - the former head of the KIA, sentenced to imprisonment by the first degree

The Court of Appeal has returned to retrial the case of the former Head of KIA, Driton, Gashi, who was sentenced in July 2023 to 4 years and 8 months of imprisonment by the Basic Court in Pristina under the charge of having misused his official position in the case of the "Gülenists". In this case, Gashi is accused of being directly involved in the deportation of 6 Turkish citizens from Kosovo, violating legal procedures.

"The appeal of the defender of the accused DG, attorney FL, is APPROVED based on the judgment of the Basic Court in Pristina - Special Department, PS. no. 8/21, dated 07.09.2023, in point I. of its provision, as pertains to the criminal offense, Misuse of official position or authority from Article 422 par.1 of the KPRK, against the accused DG, is cancelled, and this part of the judgment is returned to a retrial and decision", says the Appeal judgment, issued on December 13, 2024, which was provided by the "Oath of Justice".

"The appeal claims of the defender of the accused DG, lawyer FL about the factual situation, the violation of the criminal law and the decision on the punishment for point I. of the provision of the appealed judgment, are considered non-material", the judgment further states.

On July 19, 2023, the Founder found the former head of KIA guilty, while Valon Krasniqi and Rrahman Sylemani were acquitted.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal in December 2021 upheld the decision of the Basic Court in Pristina, with which it had rejected the dismissal of the indictment for the second time.

Otherwise, on May 21, 2021, the Special Department of the Basic Court in Pristina had confirmed the indictment filed by the Special Prosecution against Driton Gashi, Valon Krasniqi and Rrahman Sylejmani.

However, the Court of Appeal, on the grounds that there was an essential violation, turned this case into reinstatement regarding the part with which the court of first instance rejected as unfounded the requests of the defense to dismiss the indictment and challenge the evidence.

With the decision of the Basic Court in Pristina, in addition to confirming the indictment, this court had approved several proposals of the defense to declare some evidence inadmissible.

Whereas, after returning the case to reinstatement, the court of first instance on August 28, 2021 had again rejected the requests of the defense, the rejection of the indictment and the opposition of the evidence on the grounds that there is sufficient evidence in the case documents which support the based suspicion in favor of the accused, they have committed the criminal offenses for which they are accused.

And that this decision on December 16, 2021 was confirmed by the court of second instance, rejecting the defense complaints as unfounded.

Otherwise, on April 26, 2021, the Basic Court in Pristina held the second hearing for this case, during which session the accused, through their defenders, presented the requests for the dismissal of the indictment and the objection of the evidence.

The former head of KIA, Driton Gashi, the director of the Department for Citizenship, Asylum and Migration in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Valon Krasniqi, as well as the director of the Directorate for Migration and Foreigners within the Border Police, Rrahman Sylejmani, had requested from the Basic Court in Pristina the expulsion of the indictment against them, contradicting the evidence found in it.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor Habibe Salihi requested the confirmation of the indictment, with which the Special Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kosovo (PSRK) charges Driton Gashi, Valon Krasniqi and Rrahman Sylejmani with the criminal offense of misuse of official position or authority, and Sylejmani also with the criminal offense of unlawful deprivation of liberty.

According to the indictment filed by the Special Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kosovo on February 24, 2021, Driton Gashi is accused of being an official at the time of the commission of the criminal offense as the General Director of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, hereinafter KIA, from March 23, 2018, until March 29, 2018, in Pristina, in order that the citizens of the Republic of Turkey, Cihan Ozkan, Yusuf Karabina, Kahraman Demirez, Hasan Hyseyn Demir and Mustafa Erden, who had a legal residence permit and the right to work in Kosovo, and Osman Karakoya who had applied for a residence permit in Kosovo, whose procedure had not been completed, to illegally deport them from Kosovo and hand them over to the Turkish authorities.

According to the indictment, Driton Gashi is accused of abusing his official position, not fulfilling his official duties according to his competence, in such a way that the Department for Citizenship, Asylum and Migration, hereinafter DSHAM, of the Ministry of Internal Affairs recommended the revocation of residence permits for Turkish citizens Cihan Ozkan, Yusuf Karabina, Kahraman Demirez, Hasan Hyseyn Demir and Mustafa Erden and not granting permission to Osman Karakoya, for the reason that they may pose a risk to national security, a fact that has not been proven at all in the procedure implemented on the basis of the law, while the accused Rrahman Sylejmani, director of the Directorate for Migration and Foreigners in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, hereinafter DMH, had recommended the issuing of six orders for the deportation of those injured by force from the Republic of Kosovo.

The PSRK claims that the accused Driton Gashi, for this procedure and for the deportation of the victims by force from the Republic of Kosovo, did not notify the President and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, as provided by the Law on KIA, nor the Chief State Prosecutor as provided by Article 25 of the Law on KIA, and that it also exceeded the competences including KIA, in arranging the travel, transportation and participation in the deportation operation that were not the competences of the leading agency, then directly engaged in the deportation action of them either because this was not within his competence.

With these actions, the PSRK charges the accused Driton Gashi with having committed the criminal offense "Misuse of official position or authority", from article 422, paragraph 1 of the KPK.

According to this indictment, Valon Krasniqi is accused that as an official person, director of DSHAM in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the time period from March 23, 2018 to March 29, 2018, he misused his official position by not fulfilling his official duties according to his competence, in such a way that in violation with 91 of the Law on Foreigners, made a decision to revoke the legal residence permits of the injured citizens Cihan Ozkan, Yusuf Karabina, Kahraman Demirez, Hasan Husein Demir and Mustafa Erden and in violation of article 44 of the same law for Osman Karakoya , who was in the procedure for obtaining the residence permit, without it being completed with a final decision, but acted only based on the recommendation of the accused Driton Gashi for the revocation of residence permits for Turkish citizens and without proving at all whether the KIA information meets the legal criteria defined by law to prove that the injured pose a risk to national security.

According to the prosecution, also the accused Valon Krasniqi, his legal responsibilities for the identification of the deportees, the provision of travel documents, the provision of medical care and the authority for the implementation of the operation of their forced deportation had passed to the KIA and The Kosovo Police, thus violating the rights of the injured, the right to stay and work legally in Kosovo, has caused moral and material damage to the injured.

With these actions, the PSRK charges the accused Valon Krasniqi with having committed the criminal offense "Misuse of official position or authority" from article 422, paragraph 1 of the KPK of the KPK.

The PSRK charges the accused Rrahman Sylejmani that as an official person, director of DMH, at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, on March 29, 2018, in Pristina, he exceeded his official powers in such a way that he issued six orders for the forced deportation of 6 citizens of the Republic of Turkey , the injured persons Cihan Ozkan, Yusuf Karabina, Kahraman Demirez, Hasan Husein Demir and Mustafa Erden, who had legal residence and work permits in Kosovo, and Osman Karakoya who was in the process of obtaining a residence and work permit even though based of Article 99, par. 1 of the Law on Foreigners, was not at all within the competence of DMH which he led, but within the competence of DSHAM.

Whereas, it is said that he issued the orders for forced eviction even though none of the conditions for issuing the order for forced eviction from Article 97, par. 1 of the same law and also without implementing the procedure provided for in article 97, paragraph 8 of the same law, while forcibly evicting and penetrating the injured Hasan Husein Guka in an illegal manner even though his permit was not revoked at all of residence and work in Kosovo and there was not even an order for his deportation, in this way he seriously violated the rights of the injured persons for residence and employment in Kosovo, in which case moral and material damage was caused to the injured persons.

With these actions, the prosecution charges the accused Rrahman Sylejmani with having committed the criminal offense "Misuse of official position or authority" from article 422, paragraph 1 of the KPK.

Also, the prosecution accuses Rrahman Sylejmani as an official person, in the capacity as in point III- of this provision, during the month of March 2018 in the "Mehmet Akif" schools, in Gjakovë and Lipjan and in the house in the "Marigona" neighborhood in Pristina , with the help of the Kosovo Police, unlawfully deprive of liberty by forcibly evicting and penetrating the injured persons mentioned in clause III without existing any legal basis foreseen by the provisions of article 29, par. 2 and 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and article 13, paragraph 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

With these actions, the PSRK charges the accused Rrahman Sylejmani with having committed the criminal offense "Unlawful deprivation of liberty" from Article 196, par. related to par. 3 of the Criminal Code.