The Basic Court in Pristina, Special Department, has confirmed the indictment of the Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo (SPRK) against Muharrem Qerimi and Bedri Shabani for Espionage, as well as Qerimi for illegal possession of weapons.
"The objections to the evidence and the requests to dismiss the indictment, submitted by the defense attorneys of the defendants: Bedri Shabani - lawyer Besnik Berisha and Muharrem Qerimi - lawyer Betim Shala, filed against the indictment of the Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo,..., dated 19.02.2025, are rejected," the decision states.
Shabani's lawyer's claims
According to the decision, it is stated that within the legal deadline, Shabani's defense attorney, Besnik Berisha, has filed a request to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that the evidence listed in the indictment was obtained illegally.
According to the decision, it is stated that lawyer Berisha claims that the order issued by the Supreme Court of Kosovo does not specify against which subjects the wiretapping measures are issued and that as such the order does not contain sufficient reasoning.
Also, in his claims, lawyer Berisha said that according to the decision, there is no evidence proving that the phone and device taken from Shabani were in his ownership.
Meanwhile, lawyer Berisha believes that the measures issued through the Basic Court's decision do not meet the legal standard and that of well-founded suspicion, therefore such an action by the court is unlawful, according to him.
Meanwhile, Shabani's responses published in the media, according to Berisha, should be declared inadmissible since they do not contain any elements that link Shabani to them.
Meanwhile, regarding the claim that Srdjan Rosic, with whom Shabani is said to have had communications, is part of the Serbian secret service, according to lawyer Berisha, the SPRK has not proven it with a single piece of evidence.
Qerim's lawyer's claims
According to the decision of the Foundation, lawyer Shala also filed within the deadline the request to object to the evidence and the request to dismiss the indictment.
According to Shala, with no single piece of evidence has the SPRK proven that Qerimi's actions endangered the legal order in Kosovo and that most of the evidence provided by the Prosecution has been public.
Furthermore, according to Shala, it is stated that the evidence attached to the indictment does not prove the factual situation and that the elements of the criminal offense for which Qerim is charged are not met.
Shala also claimed that Qerim's trip to Serbia to meet with Srgjan Rosic was for health purposes and that crossing the border did not constitute a criminal offense.
The Court's assessments and the Prosecution's responses
The prosecution has responded within the deadline to the claims of the defendants' defense attorneys regarding the request to challenge the evidence and dismiss the indictment.
According to the response, the Prosecution has proposed to the court to reject these objections and requests to dismiss the indictment as unfounded.
According to the court's assessment, based on the parties' claims and the Prosecution's response, it has concluded that there is a well-founded suspicion that the defendants have committed the offenses for which they are being charged.
Based on the evidence listed in the indictment, the Court has found that there is a well-founded suspicion that Shabani and Qerimi each separately committed the criminal offense of espionage.
And according to the court, at this stage the standard of well-founded suspicion has been met, and all this is based on the evidence attached as in the indictment.
According to the court, in relation to the accused Shabani, information, documentation and reports related to the war of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) were provided to him through intercepted communications with Rosić.
According to the court decision, Shabani reportedly gave Rosiq information about KLA superiors in the village of Mollopolc, Shtima.
The court also found that the examination of Shabani's phone yielded materials and photographs that corroborate the well-founded suspicion that Shabani committed the criminal offense he is charged with.
Meanwhile, the police report confirms from open sources that the person Rosic is an official of the Serbian BIA.
In relation to the accused Qerimi, the court found that he crossed the border for meetings with Serbian BIA officials and that this can be proven through the testimony of witness B6.
According to the court, Qerimi, from material and personal evidence, has collected information about criminal groups, the police, businesses, as well as other information about criminal offenses that occurred in the territory of the Republic of Kosovo.
Shabani also appears to have kept notes about potential witnesses at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague and KLA superiors, and that among the numerous pieces of evidence are Serbia's numbers and communications with BIA official Rosic.
According to the court, regarding lawyer Berisha's claim for declaring evidence inadmissible, such a claim is unfounded since the evidence appears to have been obtained through secret investigative messages and in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Meanwhile, regarding the Supreme Court order, according to the court, it was issued based on Article 28 of the Law on the Kosovo Intelligence Agency (KIA) and according to the court, sufficient reasons for its issuance were specified in the order.
The court also found unfounded the other claim of lawyer Berisha regarding the evidence published in the media, since according to the court, the evidence obtained from the media specified where it was published and that at this stage of the procedure it is sufficient to support the well-founded suspicion.
The court also found the other claim that there is no evidence proving that Rocić is part of the BIA to be unfounded, as the evidence shows that there is a well-founded suspicion that he was part of the BIA, and whether this will be proven, according to the court, will be assessed during the trial.
In the end, the court recognized the right to appeal within ten days after the same decision is received by the parties in the procedure.
The hearing on March 5, 2025 was adjourned at the request of the accused Shabani for additional time to read and analyze the indictment in order to then plead guilty.
The Special Prosecution Office of the Republic of Kosovo (SPRK) on February 19, 2025 filed an indictment against Bedri Shabani and Muharrem Qerimi, accusing them of having collected and sent information and documents to the Serbian BIA regarding the Kosovo Liberation Army, its superiors and members, the Police, the Kosovo Intelligence Agency and the Kosovo Police Inspectorate, as well as specific events and objects, including a massacre in Recak.
Through these actions, the SPRK says that the aim was to cause a widespread interethnic conflict in the territory of the Republic of Kosovo, to create a false narrative linking the KLA Military Hospital with the so-called "Yellow House" for alleged organ trafficking, and to question the truth of the massacre.
The indictment charges Shaban and Qerim with espionage. Qerim is also accused of possessing weapons without a permit.
According to the indictment provided by the "Oath for Justice", in the first count, Bedri Shabani is accused of having assisted the Intelligence and Security Agency of the Republic of Serbia (known as BIA) from an unspecified date until the moment of his arrest on June 5, 2024, in the form of collecting and sending information, documents and materials related to the Kosovo Liberation Army, including its superiors, as well as specific events and objects such as the KLA Military Hospital in the village of Mollopolc, Shtime, and the Reçak massacre.
The indictment states that Shabani had transmitted the data and information in question to the senior BIA official, Srgjan Rosic, responsible for the Pancevo Region, as well as Colonel Bogoljub Janicevic, former commander of the Serbian Police for the Ferizaj Region, during the war in Kosovo and leader of the police-military operation in the Recak massacre, through telephone communications, e-mail and physical meetings held on the territory of Serbia.
Therefore, it is said that with these actions the accused has seriously endangered and damaged the constitutional legal order and the security of the Republic of Kosovo, while also assisting the BIA in creating a false narrative with the aim of linking the KLA Military Hospital in Mollopolc, Shtime, with the so-called "Yellow House" in Burrel, Albania, allegedly involving organ trafficking, as well as questioning the truth of the Recak massacre, by requesting the BIA official and Bogoljub Janičević to undertake operational actions that would cause a widespread interethnic conflict in the territory of the Republic of Kosovo.
Therefore, for these actions, Bedri Shabani is charged with the criminal offense of "Espionage" under Article 124, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code.
Whereas, in the second count of the indictment, Muharrem Qerimi is accused of having assisted the Intelligence and Security Agency of the Republic of Serbia (known as BIA) from 2012 onwards until his arrest on June 5, 2024, in the form of collecting and sending various information, documents and materials related to the war and members of the KLA, the names and superiors of the Kosovo Police, the KIA, the IPK, then the names of witnesses already known to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague in relation to criminal offenses of organized crime, corruption, and which information he transmitted to the senior BIA official, Srgjan Rosic responsible for the Pančevo Region, through telephone communications and physical meetings he held in the territory of the Republic of Serbia.
With these actions, the accused Qerimi is said to have seriously endangered and damaged the constitutional legal order and the security of the Republic of Kosovo and its citizens.
Therefore, for these actions, Qerim is charged with the criminal offense of "Espionage" under Article 124, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code.
Meanwhile, the third count of the indictment states that on June 5, 2024, during the implementation of the Court's order for a search warrant, the defendant Qerimi was found in unauthorized possession of an "Ekol Tuna" type revolver, a magazine, six cartridges, twenty other cartridges with the inscription 11/53, as well as four other magazines with the crescent sign and a round, which were seized by the Kosovo Police.
With these actions, Qerim is charged with having committed the criminal offense of "Unauthorized ownership, control or possession of weapons" under Article 366, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code. /Oath of Justice/
