The minor suspected of killing police officer Lika had an active arrest warrant for five months

By November 2024, police officers in Kaçanik and the Regional Border Directorate had in hand an arrest warrant for Rejhan Bela, now the main suspect in the murder of police officer Muhamet Lika.

The same person was convicted of the criminal offense of rape, but had not gone to serve his sentence, which led the Basic Court in Ferizaj to issue an arrest warrant on November 14, 2024.

"Regarding the question of the minor who was in the procedure of execution of the institutional measure for a period of two (2) years for the criminal offense of rape under Article 227, paragraph 6, in connection with paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, which decision became final on 18.09.2024, and since the minor did not voluntarily appear to serve the measure, the court on 14.11.2024 issued an order for the forcible transfer of the minor to serve the sentence in the Juvenile Correctional Center in Lipjan, this order was sent to the Police Station in Kaçanik and the Regional Border Directorates and the same was received on 18.11.2024, according to the return slip," the court announced.

But this order remained unimplemented and the minor was arrested only five months later, now as the main suspect in the murder of police officer Muhamet Lika.

The Kosovo Police and the Police Inspectorate have not indicated whether they have already launched investigations into the non-implementation of the arrest warrant.

But, lawyer Yll Zekaj says that the entire institutional chain should be investigated for this, since there are repeated cases.

"We see that this is not the first criminal offense committed by these individuals, and if we analyze these criminal offenses in more depth and how they were handled, we see that there is a failure of the justice system, whether in investigating these offenses, in punishing these offenses, or in rehabilitating the perpetrators of these offenses...", said Zekaj.

Read too The court in Ferizaj provides details about the suspects in the murder case of Sergeant Muhamed Lika

The crime for which the minor Rejhan Bela is suspected, along with the 6 other arrested people, is serious, but the punishment he could receive cannot be that severe.

"In the situation we are in with the criminal offenses of murder committed by minors, of course the Criminal Code also provides for the imposition of a prison sentence, meaning the maximum sentence is 10 years, but in our judicial practice we have not had any maximum sentence as provided for in the Juvenile Justice Code," said lawyer Anton Ndrecaj.

Rejhan Bela, Haki Bela, Diamnat Gashi, Rilind Murati, Vatan Çaka and Edmond Lika are under detention, under suspicion of having organized and carried out the murder of police sergeant Muhamet Lika.

Lika was murdered on April 1, in his apartment building in Kaçanik, while earlier this week, seven suspects believed to be behind the serious act were arrested. /Dukagjin/