Court gives 55 years in prison for Shullaz and four members of his gang

The court ruling was made just hours after the defence ended reading the conclusions. In the total fives that judged the case, led by Judge Fran Prendi, Luan Hasmeziri, Ljiljana Baku, Irena Gjona and Bib Ndreca handed 55 years in prison for all members of the group.

The five were found guilty of creating the structured criminal group. Shullazi was found guilty of extortion of property and the threat of businessmen Ylvi Beqja and Jani Zaka, the establishment of the structured criminal group, and was sentenced in total to 14 years in prison, three less than the prosecution had demanded.

Gillmando Dan, who was charged with being his right-hand man, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in all mainly for creating the structured criminal group and for threatening Ylvi Beqjas. Meanwhile, for Andrew Qyqjen and Andrew Zela, 10 years were handed over on the same charges. Blerim Shullazi was sentenced to 9 years in prison for creating a structured criminal group and threatening businessman Jani Zarka and illegal weapons.

The court said they had not been found guilty of two cases of placing the tritol on the subjects that had been threatened, including the tritel in the garage of businessman Zarka. They were also not found guilty even of the threat of Tirana University Rector Mynyr Koni of the former sector's Trior Kule.

Shullaz lawyer Vladimir Mece said after the hearing that the decision was unfair and that they would seek his appeal. During the first part of the session, there were clashes between prosecutors and lawyers. During his defense reading, lawyer Denion Bogdani described the charge as “fake news”, while accusing prosecutors of “thatheme mehanje”.

The lawyer's stance was contested by prosecutor Anton Martini, who said the language used was not ethical, while the court called attention to the lawyer to focus on legal arguments. Similar situations have occurred earlier in the court process against Shullaz and four of the defendants.

Process

Emiliano Shullasi, along with Gillmando Dan, Blerim Shullaz, Andrew Qyqjen and Andrew Zelen, were charged by the Prosecutor of the Criminals for fines, destruction of explosives property, illegal weapons and the creation of a structured criminal group.

The trial against them began in the spring of 2017, after they were arrested after the threat to the Rector and Rector candidate was made public at the University of Tirana, but he dragged mainly for attorneys' absences and in part after changes to the Randa Crime Prosecutor.

The issue had a series of witnesses “VIP”, including former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri and Education Minister Lindita Nikolla. Tahiri and Nikola confirmed in court that the candidate for the reactor at the University of Tirana was threatened. They said that during a meeting between them and the sector candidate, they had heard the accused's names.

Also called Tirana University Rector Munich Koni, who was allegedly threatened by Sulazi and former Rector Dori Kule. Both accepted the threat, but in court they did not identify Shullaz as threatening.

Former State Police Director Hali Chako and former Director of the Tirana Police were summoned to the trial. Both confirmed that they had heard Shullaz's name as a threat to the sector and the reactor candidate.

Evidence was also received by former chairman of Durres Hippotheca, now deputy SP Jurgen Chirby. The drill, which was asked to register the former “Volga”, said there had been no threats from Shullazi, who was interested in registering property in his name and Ylvi Beqjas, considered a key witness on the issue. Also published in the media were the conversation between Chirbyya and other defendants Gilmando Dan, where he was alluding to the prosecution's investigation into the case.

The two businessmen threatened have been the most important piece of evidence of the RS Criminal Prosecutor. The testimony of one of them, Jani Zaka, was read by the prosecution, while it was said he had left Albania following the Sulazi threat in connection with the possession of a garage in his apartment building. A few days after Zaka had left the country, a supply of tritoli was placed.

The next testimony was received by businessman Ylvi Beqja. Beqa has the status of a protected witness and claims she has been threatened by Shullazi and other people to deliver large sums of money. His testimony has also been confirmed by Beqja's Besnik, brother-in-law and driver, who also claimed that he had been threatened and taken into police protection two days before he was on trial.

Meanwhile, several other witnesses called by the prosecution changed the allegations by excusing the accused. The prosecution opened an investigation into several other persons involved in a campaign against witness Beqja during this time. The charge claims that a number of businessmen were blackmailed to issue statements against the protected witness.

Several times former Prime Minister Sali Berisha was mentioned in the process, while he was told that his testimony from the defence was also required, but then they withdrew from the request. Meanwhile, the process has been constantly monitored by representatives of the US Embassy in Tirana and Germany's.

Pressure

When the issue reached the point of reading the preservation in June of this year, the hearings were initially stalled due to the lack of defence lawyers, which had happened even during the trial, and then by the lack of prosecutors investigating it.

On August 1st, Prosecutor Elizabeth Imeraj was commanded to head the Tirana Prosecutor, leaving the files investigated as part of the Randa Crimes, while the other prosecutor, Ened Nakuci, has filed a six-month medical report.

Initially to unblock the situation, the head of the North Crimes Prosecutor, Donika Prela, authorised her predecessor, Besim Hajdarmataj, but the effort to elect other prosecutors turned into an institutional crisis.

10 prosecutors were brought under disciplinary proceedings, while 3 of them were transferred to periphery circles, following a debate with Presla director on the prosecution's selection procedures in the trial. Criminalised prosecutors have announced indictments of measures taken against them, which they consider illegal.

The prosecution resolved the situation by specifying to be represented by the institution's directors. Following another session delay this time for lack of a lawyer, the claim was read on October 2nd. The prosecution demanded 64 years in prison for five defendants.

Prosecutor Gentian Osmani read the measures of sentences required for the five defendants. Named the defendant Emiliano Shullazi as the creator of the structured criminal group and the ideator of the criminal acts being tried, and demanding, his sentence with 17 years of freedom. Gillmando Dan has been named by the prosecution as Emiliano Shullasi's supporter, while the other three -- Andrew Qyqja, Andrew Zela and Blerim Shullasi -- as participants in the organisation and as the working people on the ground.

According to the prosecution, in several episodes it is suspected that defendant Emiliano Shullazi has acted on his own. “The people who accompanied Emiliano Shullaz created anxiety and uncertainty at victims”, the prosecution's final conclusions.

Meanwhile, the prosecution demanded Gilmando Dan's sentence with 15 years of freedom lifted, for Andrew Zela's Dream from 11 years in prison for everyone, and for Blerim Shullaz 10 years of freedom. Prosecutors have stressed that due to the particular circumstances of this issue, the court must attach importance to statements given during the preliminary investigation, claiming witnesses had changed position due to pressures.

Citing the criminal acts the defendants are charged with with high risk and because the defendants have been convicted before, the prosecution has demanded that the punishment be carried out in a maximum security prison.

Protection

After pushing for nearly a month, defence conclusions began to read them on October 30th. Emiliano Shullasi's lawyer, Vladimir Meche, sought innocence for defendant Emiliano Shullazi. The lawyer also sought innocence for Andrew Qyqjen, charged as part of the group, also protected by him.

One of the attorney's key arguments, Vladimir Meche, during the defence reading hearing, was his violation of the presumption of innocence. Mece said that “predicting innocence is a fundamental principle for having a fair process”, bringing various examples of international courts to attention.

He stressed that the issue in charge of Emiliano Shullaz and other defendants has attracted public attention, giving the idea that a criminal group is being punished, while prosecutors of the “case are emerging as knights of this battle”. “In the Shulluz case, public making has served him guilty by turning the court back years ago, like the judgments before the people,” claimed Mece.

He referred to statements by former Prime Minister Sali Berisha and those of former US Ambassador Donald Lu. He also stopped in evidence handed down by witness Ylvi Beqja, whom he named as the classic <x0-> classical fraud”, saying the witness had indicated he had personally asked Emiliano Shulluz for help.

Mece also said the prosecution's main witness had collaborated with the prosecution to close his problems with the law, as he was at the time on charges of money laundering. The lawyer said the prosecution had been selective in the witness selection. He claimed the prosecution's evidence did not confirm the charges filed, and called for the announcement of his innocent clients.

Gilmando Dan's lawyer, Denion Bogdan, who read the conclusions this Tuesday after demanding more time, also indicated that there was no evidence of his client and demanded innocence. He said in court that “is hard to counter absurdity, while naming the prefix “a science fictional account with comic script”.

Andrew Zela's lawyer, Elton Domi, also demanded innocence, claiming there was no evidence against his client, he even claimed witness Ylvi Beqja had pressured his client. The contender also claimed Blerim Shullasi's lawyer, Aldo Tabaku, saying that the description of one of the witnesses was out of harmony with the appearance of protected by him.

Who is Emiliano Shullasi?

Emiliano Shullasi's name circulates into the black chronicle since the 1998-1999 bloody clashes among gangs in Tirana. In 2006, he was arrested and sentenced to 7 years and 4 months in prison for drug trafficking as part of the “Identic operation”.

After being released from prison, Sulazi's name has been coveted as the possible author of a series of crimes committed in Tirana, but justice authorities could prove only one count of illegal weapons in 2012, after which he suffered a short time of sentence.

He has already been mentioned for involvement in election campaigns. In 2011 he was charged with destroying a bar that served as the Socialist Party's electoral office, while he was also detained on Election Day with weapons, but the other detainees took responsibility for the weapons.

Sulazi was later mentioned by former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who accused former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri of connection with him and for protection. Tahiri repeatedly denied the accusations, while when testifying in the trial for the UT sector threat, he suggested that Berisha be called to testify.

Sulazi is also mentioned in connection with others under charge. His name came out after the assassination of Edison Harizaj, with whom they were arrested in Lezha in 2012 for possession of illegal weapons. In the process against him, the name of Ervis Martinaj, recently arrested after a murder at a local in the former blockade, has been mentioned.

He was on the list of names mentioned several times as illustration of justice problems in the country by former US Ambassador to Tirana Donal Lu. “are some famous names of Albanian criminals, such as convicted drug traffickers Emiljano Shullazi, for whom the media claims it continues to commit drug and arms trafficking from detention cell”, Lu said during a meeting at the magistrate's school in the fall of last year. (reporter. Al)