Triumf Riza's brother testifies in court: They sent a woman to the hospital to see if Triumf was dead

In the trial of the two defendants, Ilir Abdullahu - "Liza" and Rrahim Abdullahu - "Rrumqi", Visar Riza, brother of Triumf Riza, a former Kosovo Police Service official who was killed in 2007, testified.

Ilir Abdullahu and Rrahim Abdullahu from the Special Prosecution are accused of having murdered Triumf Riza in collusion with Arben Berisha, Fitim Avdiu and Enver Sekiraq.

At the hearing held on 24.04.2025, witness Visar Riza, brother of Triumf Riza, said that the two defendants Ilir and Rrahim Abdullahu had been constantly accompanying his brother.

"These two defendants here have been non-stop escorts to my family, my brother and my family, since the Swiss Cassino case, these two are also involved, just like the other one who fled, because they are a group," said Visar Riza during his testimony.

"Who is that other guy?" asked prosecutor Arbëresha Raça - Shala.

"Enver Sekiraqa," said witness Riza.

Witness Riza said that he had been with his brother most of the time and that they had constantly accompanied him along with Enver and the other people in their group.

"I was also present when they followed us, they followed us many times, not just once, they followed us with different cars, scooters, we had non-stop escorts. They followed us with cars, which is noticeable, because Pristina is very busy and it is noticeable who is following us, who is not, and we saw them," said witness Riza.

Visar Riza said that he was the last person who spoke to Triumfi before he was killed, and he said that he spoke with the same person 10 minutes before he died.

He then told about the critical day and how he had found out about his brother's death.

"He called me, don't mistake me for a neighbor, and told me that Triumfi had been wounded. From there I took a taxi and went to the UCCK. When I got there, he had actually already passed away," said witness Riza.

Witness Riza also said that Liza's girlfriend had come to the hospital to determine whether they had done the job well or not.

"She came to find out that they brought her there to check whether they had done the job well or not," said witness Riza.

The lawyer for the accused Ilir Abdullahu, lawyer Ramë Dreshaj, also had questions about this witness.

"Which way, which direction did they follow you?" asked lawyer Ramë Dreshaj.

"Specifically, from the apartments, every time we left, they followed us. There was a follow-up from Veternik to Ferizaj, this is one case that followed us, there were other cases in Pristina that followed us. These two gentlemen were actually followed non-stop, even on the day you are asking the question about Veternik, with cars and motorbikes. My brother told me that they were following us, he mentioned them by nicknames, this one is 'Rrumqi' and the other one is 'Liza', there was also Enver's group and Enver and all that," said Riza.

"Iliri said it was, was it a car or a motorcycle?" was the next question from lawyer Ramë Dreshaj.

"It was a car," said Riza.

The hearing held today, 24.04.2025, was adjourned, while the next one is expected to continue tomorrow, 25.04.2025, where the hearing of the next two witnesses will continue.

We recall that in the court session held on 21.02.2025, two cases were merged: the merger of the case of Rrahim Abdullah and that of Ilir Abdullah.

"The prosecution has requested that they be joined, because they deal with the same criminal case, and that these two cases be tried as one case due to cost-savings," said Judge Valon Kurtaj.

Rrahim Abdullahu is accused of aggravated murder in co-perpetration, but the Basic Court in Pristina in 2015 reclassified the offense to "providing assistance to perpetrators after the commission of the criminal offense", finding him guilty of this offense.

The Basic Court of Pristina, with its verdict dated 04.12.2015, found Rrahim Abdullah guilty of the criminal offense of "providing assistance to perpetrators after the commission of a criminal offense" and sentenced him to 4 years and 11 months in prison.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeals returned the case against Rrahim Abdullah for retrial.

KALLXO.COM has obtained the decision of the Court of Appeals, which remanded the case against Rrahim Abdullah for retrial.

"The appeals of the Special Prosecution of Kosovo, of the defense attorney of the accused Rrahim Abdullahu, attorney Miodrag Brkjaq, are approved, and ex officio, the judgment of the Basic Court - DKR in Pristina, PKR.nr.211/2014, dated 04.12.2015, is annulled and the criminal case is returned to the first instance court for retrial," the decision of the Court of Appeal states.

This decision was made by the panel of judges composed of: Xhevdet Abazi, presiding judge, Fillim Skoro, referring judge, and Driton Muharremi, member.

Read too Trial against Rrahim and Ilir Abdullah, Triumf Riza's father: They are Enver Sekiraqa's right hand, they have been following Triumf for two years

This retrial case is being handled in the Special Department of the Court of Pristina, composed of the Trial Panel: Valon Kurtaj (President of the Trial Panel) and Lutfi Shala and Violeta Namani-Hajra (members).

For the murder of police officer Triumf Riza, which occurred in 2007, the Kosovo Police, on 16.07.2023, arrested the suspect, Ilir Abdullahu. Abdullahu had been wanted by law enforcement for 15 years, and his arrest had taken place on 16.07.2023, in Batllavë, Podujevo.

The two found guilty of the murder of Triumf Riza are Arben Berisha, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for this crime, and Enver Sekiraqa, who was found guilty by the Basic Court of Pristina and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

This marks the third time Sekiraqa has been convicted of inciting Riza's murder 17 years ago. The first time, in 2016, Sekiraqa was sentenced to 36 years in prison, and again in 2019, to 20 years in prison.

Enver Sekiraqa is currently on the run and is wanted by law enforcement agencies.

The Special Prosecution of Kosovo, on 01.09.2024, filed an Indictment against Ilir Abdullah for the criminal offense of "aggravated murder in the case of the murder of police officer Triumf Riza".

On 03.08.2024, Ilir Abdullah, known as Liza, was remanded in custody for another two months.

Witness Riza also said that Liza's girlfriend had come to the hospital to determine whether they had done the job well or not.

"She came to find out that they brought her there to check whether they had done the job well or not," said witness Riza.

The lawyer for the accused Ilir Abdullahu, lawyer Ramë Dreshaj, also had questions about this witness.

"Which way, which direction did they follow you?" asked lawyer Ramë Dreshaj.

At the beginning of April, the Pristina Court had decided to extend the detention of Abdullah, a suspect in the murder of Triumf Riza, for another two months.

Abdullahu, known by the nickname "Liza", was released from detention by the Pristina Court after posting 100,000 euros in bail.

The Court of Appeal, on 03.11.2023, returned Ilir Abdullah to detention.

The reasoning of the Court of Appeal states that the Appeal of the Special Prosecution Office claims that the Decision on the bail measure is in violation of the Provisions of Criminal Procedure. This is due to the fact that for the determination of this measure there must be a well-founded suspicion and that the only basis is the risk of flight, therefore the Prosecution Office has assessed that the legal conditions for the determination of the bail measure against the same have not been met.

The Court of Appeal had assessed that the Appeal of the Special Prosecution Office is well-founded and that the Court of First Instance did not provide sufficient reasons – regarding the proportionality and appropriateness of this measure.

Therefore, replacing the measure of detention with a bail measure, in the amount of 100,000 euros for the defendant, is not fair and legal, and the defendant Abdullahu must be returned to detention.

The Supreme Court of Kosovo had upheld the Court of Appeals' decision to return Ilir Abdullah to detention.

The Supreme Court had rejected the appeal of Abdullah's lawyer, Ramë Dreshaj, who had filed an appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision to return the suspect to pre-trial detention. /Kallxo.com/