Family convicts of terrorism from Skenderaj: Don't label us

Since then, the Vojvoda family says it is being labeled “family of terrorist”.

In the 16 November action, Kosovo Police had arrested 18 people as suspected of planning a terrorist attack on Israel's football team in the match to be held against Albania's National Stadium “Loro Borichi” in Shkodra.
Of the 18 arrested, 9 of them were sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Meanwhile, Leotrim Vojvoda, 23, was sentenced to 5 years in prison on the charge that via the telegram app, he has deliberately accepted the call of Lavdrim Mujarır, commander of members from Kosovo who fought alongside the military organisation Islamic State (IS) to attack Israel players and fans in Shkodra.

He is now serving his sentence at the High Security Prison in the village of Duz, Podujevo.
Leotrim's brother, Bekim, who heads the family's tin processing business, tells Radio Free Europe that it's very difficult when many people say “the family family of terrorist” or <x2-family of Islamic State”.

He says the arrest of his brother, who was a student of computer science in Pristina, has greatly damaged them as a family.

It has destroyed us mentally and morally. Now, we go out into town and as a family look at people with a bad eye, even though they have no basis. We as a family have had a black shadow. A black shadow without any arguments. But in opinion, people don't know who you are. I think 90 percent know you, but some people don't even want to know the truth, but it's in the media and they say the terrorist's family”, says Bekim Vojvoda.
Apart from where they live, the sentence of Leotrim, says Bekim has also affected their work.

There's been times when man wanted to call us to do the job, when he realized who we are, he rejected us. These things have been done to us, I just hope God pays us that this black shadow they've put on us is hard to compensate for”, Vojvoda says.

He says his brother is innocent and is not a terrorist.

We don't support these terrorist organisations, nor does our brother have to deal with this indictment, which has been charged to”, says Bekim Vojvoda.

Leotrim Vojvodina defence lawyer Skender Musa tells Radio Free Europe that it is not proven that his client has done the work, for which he has been convicted.
There have been shortcomings in the process since the investigation phase in the police and the prosecutor, since there has been no material evidence that Leotrim participated in any form or attempted to commit this criminal act, which he has been convicted of. No single evidence has been presented during the entire judicial process, both in the first instance and in the second degree”, says lawyer Musa.

After convicting them in May of last year, Pristina's Constitutional Court had reduced the sentences for one year.

The court has confirmed that they have travelled to the city of Shkodra, where they photographed the city stadium and later planned to conduct attacks on Israel's football team and their fans. According to the Court, they planned to use explosives and Kalashnikov-type weapons.

In one of the defendants' basements, police had found explosives of the Triceton Tripperoxid (TATP) type. The same explosion has been used in other attacks in Paris and Brussels.

More than 400 Kosovo citizens, mainly adults, have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight on the side of the so-called Islamic State. More than 70 have been killed, while many women and children continue to remain in that area.

Kosovo has drafted a law in 2015, where every person participating in foreign wars will be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.