Chief Prosecutor Gashi: There are no criminal groups in Pristina

The Chief Prosecutor of the Basic Prosecution Office in Pristina, Zejnullah Gashi, in an interview for "Oath for Justice", said that he can guarantee the citizens of Pristina that there are no criminal groups in Pristina and that the prosecutors are not influenced or bothered by any powerful group or individual.

"Let me also mention the case of Aktash, the serious murder in Aktash that occurred between two families or groups presumed to be criminal groups, such as the case of the murder between the Sekiraqs and the Capas, these people with the surname Gashi, who I think are such a serious murder case, and the prosecutor of the case, of this criminal case, has managed to arrest 10 people through a very professional investigation in that specific case, even though there was very little evidence, it was difficult to investigate, to identify the perpetrators of that serious criminal offense, which case has shocked the city of Pristina. I can guarantee the citizens of Pristina that there are no criminal groups in Pristina. We are not upset about any group, for any powerful individual. However, these were some families that tried to be protagonists of domination in Pristina and who ended up in handcuffs," said Chief Prosecutor Gashi.

According to Gashi, under no circumstances can anyone influence the work of the Prosecutor's Office he leads.

"It is true that the Pristina Prosecution Office has a number of about 50 prosecutors, but the structure of prosecutors in our prosecution is a new structure of prosecutors, especially from the last and penultimate contingent that has arrived, and in no case have I noticed that a prosecutor could be influenced by a certain interest group or others. Let me say that only in the last three months of 20206, in terms of fighting corruption or criminal offenses against official duty, we have arrested several official persons," said Gashi.

Further, the Chief Prosecutor of Pristina mentioned some concrete examples of those arrested, such as the cases of inspectors of the Municipality of Pristina, the case of the Ministry of Internal Affairs where an indictment was filed against eight people, and others.

"For eight people for criminal offenses of bribery and abuse of official duty. We have the case of the labor inspector, the central labor inspector, who was caught committing a criminal offense. We also have the latest plea agreement where the same person was given 18 months in prison. Then we have the case of Graçanica, senior officials in the Municipality of Graçanica, where the same people were arrested and caught committing a criminal offense. These are some of the cases that I think that with us no argument can influence a certain interest group or powerful individual for whom it is alleged", Gashi added.

Chief Prosecutor Zejnullah Gashi described the gruesome murder of Liridona Ademaj as a terrible case. According to him, the case was initially presented as a robbery, but as he said, with the marked professionalism of the prosecutor in the case, the case was solved, for which he said they expect capital punishment for the perpetrators of the criminal offense.

"Then we have the case of the discovery of the murder of Bedri Rexhepi, a well-known businessman here, who was initially reported as a missing person's case. We did not have a single piece of evidence, but with the professionalism of the prosecutor together with the investigators, with integrity, with professionalism, we managed to discover that case and that it has ended. Then there is the case of the Argentinean woman's murder, which was crowned with a guilty verdict and a very high sentence, and we also have other cases that show the dedication, professionalism and genuine professional investigations that precede our work, our commitments to law enforcement," said Gashi.

Furthermore, the chief prosecutor of the largest prosecution office in the country said that all cases are handled professionally and without selection.

According to him, it is impossible for anyone to conduct selective investigations because the work is constantly monitored by civil society.

"If there are such tendencies, it is definitely addressed immediately by my side so that in communication with the prosecutor those suspicions of a tendency regarding selective investigations are avoided. I think that in no case has it emerged that a selective investigation was conducted because, as I said earlier, there is a contingent of young prosecutors, who are truly very professional, are uninfluenceable and have other ambitions and in no way fall prey to those influences," said Gashi.