The Court of Appeal on Tuesday reconfirmed the property rights of the survivor of the Suhareka massacre, Shyhrete Berisha, to the house in which she lived with her husband and their children, who were killed during the war.
The ruling states that the Appeals Court rejected the parties' appeals and upheld the first instance judgment of the Basic Court in Suhareka, recognizing Berisha's right to ownership of her house.
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Letter to the Reader — Why We're Asking for Your Support ContributeThis decision pleased Berisha, who has fought for this right since the post-war period.
Her lawyer, Miftar Qelaj, said that as soon as he received the Appeals Court's ruling, he informed Berisha of the news.
Shyhrete Berisha has been claiming the right to inherit the property of her husband, who was killed during the war, since 2001. After returning to Kosovo from sheltering abroad, her husband's parents did not allow her access to the house in which she lived, nor the right to inherit it. For this reason, she filed a lawsuit.
In August 2022, the Suhareka branch of the Basic Court in Prizren ruled that Berisha should be granted the right to half of the house. In the judgment, which KOHA has in its possession, Judge Shaban Zeqiri ruled that she should be granted a second half of the house or that the co-owners, her husband's brothers, compensate her in an amount of over 130 thousand euros.
This was the third decision in this case by the Court, as a result of the retrial.
Earlier, in 2017, the Prizren Basic Court had decided that Berisha should receive half of the house, as well as half of two cadastral plots. But the court later rejected these two cadastral plots, for which reason her defense lawyer filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals.
Shpresa Berisha-Rexhepi's lawyer, who represents Shyhreta's brother-in-law, Xhelal Berisha, also spoke out against the court's decision. She said that legally there is no legal basis for approving Shyhreta's claim regarding ownership.
And regarding the prolongation of this process, Berisha said at the time that it had emotionally damaged him.
"First, the Serbian army and police killed my children, my husband and my entire family. For the second time, the Albanians killed me spiritually, that is, the people I respected, I knew and who wanted me not to be alive, not to live on my property and that of my children, to disappear forever... It has been extremely difficult for me, I cannot describe what I have experienced during these years... as the people say: 'Man is stronger than stone... justice is delayed, but finally it has come,'" Berisha said in August 2022.