Retrial against VV activists for attack on Parliament, witness talks about engine sales

Witness Eset Ramadani, after looking at the accused in the hall, has stated that I cannot identify them as any of the people who sold them the engine, which was used as a transport tool for the attack on the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo.

He has given this statement at Thursday's session in the retrial of the case known as the “VV's <xx1> targetingr, where Frasher Krasniqi, Adea Batusha, Egzon Haliti and Arifi are charged with claims that they are responsible for the attack on the Kosovo Assembly in August 2014, which has qualified as a terrorist act, reports “Betim for Justice<3>.

This witness, answering the questions of prosecutor Fikrije Krasniqi-Fyzullahu, has stated that he has issued several statements to the police on the case and that among the statements he has issued, there have been those on August 5th and 6th 2016.

He has stated that he remembers the contents of these statements and that he stands behind them, and that there is no adding.

The same one, answering the questions of lawyer Ramiz Krasniqi, who defends accused Arifi, has stated that after the first case of making the statement, he has still been invited by police and does not know exactly how many times.

In this regard, he said he has always written according to police invitations, but which does not know exactly when, adding that after August 5th and 6th, he has been questioned.

On the other hand, Ramadani said he has been notified by police about the fact that he is suspected of this criminal case.

Asked by the judge, whether he remembers whether, during statements to the police, he was even heard in the quality of the witness and in that suspect, the witness said he didn't know how to explain it, and that he was called to quality suspects.

The same man said it's correct that he's made the identification of the suspects, but he can't remember how many photos were presented to the police.

On the other hand, according to witness Ramadani, it is accurate that he said to the police that those who bought the engine told him that they were from the Rahovec's circle, and that the language dialect was on this side.

The same said that given the fact that you work in the market, there is knowledge of dialects spoken across different parts of Kosovo.

Ramadani said I can still make the description of people who bought the engine from him.

I've described them since then, I've described them again. And remember, what's behind that”, the witness said.

At the request of the chairman of the court, Becir Kaluldra, the witness has turned back and looked at the defendants, where he later claimed I cannot make the identification of the accused.

Lawyer Florent Latifaj, who defends accused Frasher Krasniqi, has asked the witness that when he gave the first and second statements as a witness, he made the same first days as he issued a statement, or later, the witness said he did not exactly remember that.

The same one added that when he made the identification of persons, he made the description of what they look like, reports “The Justice Trust”.

Meanwhile, he has said there has been no pressure on the police and that the statements have given him on the basis of his will.

According to him, he identified it on the basis of his description of the appearance of persons, as well as said that the police said it was not 100% accurate to describe the characteristics of persons on their appearance and appearance, adding that his memory was cooler at the time of the event, rather than today.

The day I sold the engine, it was Sunday. One night earlier, a person called me about that engine or something. Tomorrow they called me again. I wake up on Sunday usually two and a half or three after midnight to go to market. On that Sunday, I'm very tired and busy in time. That's what happens in the market, I've been called back, I don't know exactly how long it's been, but if Koo bajagi's late mass has closed the engine market. Because I'm very busy and tired, I'm not aware of 100% certain in their identification”, Ramadani declared at the end of his testimony.

Notes in his testimony had Krasniqi's protector, lawyer Latifaj, after saying that the same day has been faced with several statements that, according to him, cannot stand for legal reasons, and because even his statement of August 26, 2016, has been issued in the quality of the witness, since the same one has been indicted with an act on expanding investigations of August 7, 2016.

According to him, the witness Ramadani has also identified the person through the photos, in the quality of the witness, as long as he had the quality of the defendant until September 16, 2016, when they have even stopped investigating him.

Therefore, in criminal procedure, one cannot have two qualities, at the same time be witnesses, both defendants and indictees”, Latifaj said.

On the other hand, the trial has continued with the hearing of witness Naser Mustafa, who has said that regarding the phone he sold was invited by police and that as far as he can remember, it has been twice.

He has declared that it remains in whole behind statements issued in the police, reports “Justice Trust”.

Witness Mustafa, to issue his statement, has entered from the door from which the defendants come, whose detention measures are scheduled, so lawyer Ali Beka has asked why this has happened.

However, the chairman of the court, Becir Kalludra, has not allowed such a question, nor has he explained why it happened.

Witness Mustafa has declared that he cannot remember how many days after selling the phone he was invited to be questioned by the police.

He said the guy he switched his phone with had a client, and he remembers the same guy's name is Mentor.

I gave it a “Nocia”, brought it to me from the scjash, and I got a “Samsung”, he said, adding that he cannot remember how many phones he sold that day.

And he said that the phone he switched with the guy Mentor sold the next day he called him after saying that the cable didn't fill his phone and that the same guy said to <x0... Check out the phone, that it works”.

After the witness's hearing, Judge Kaluldra scheduled the next session for 21 October, beginning at 9:00.

Otherwise, at the first retrial session, the previous was to be held on March 4th 2020, the former defender of the accused Krasniqi, lawyer Tome Gashi, had sought exemption from the court's chairman, Judge Becir Kaluldra, but that request was rejected.

Judge Becir Kalludra's court, on November 27, 2017, had convicted the four accused, condemning them to 21 years and six months in prison.

Former President Frasher Krasniqi had been sentenced to eight years in prison, Father and Arifi had been sentenced to six years in prison, Egzon Haliti to 5 and a half years, as well as Adea Batusha with two years' removal.

After complaints at the Court of Appeals, the college of the second judicial instance, had assessed that the first degree of judgment was committed by legal violations and had canceled the same and thus turned the subject into retrial.

In the case of convicted VV activists, February 9, 2018, was also discussed in the Kosovo Assembly, at the end of which session, the Assembly had adopted several recommendations requiring that a thorough, independent international investigation of any Western EU member states, including Western European and Switzerland, be required and allowed for the attack on the Assembly building.

By contrast, the Special Prosecutor of the Republic of Kosovo, in December 2016, had filed charges against Frasher Krasniqi, Father and Arifi, Egzon Halit and Adea Batusha, who accused them of committing the criminal act of terrorism.

To four Vetevendosje activists, The PSRK has filed an indictment four months after the same, along with the late Astrit Dehari, were arrested as suspected of the August 4th attack that year, on the Kosovo Assembly facility, but that Dehari had died in November 2016 in his cell at the Prizren detention centre.

Under the Special Prosecutor's indictment, the defendants have acted as an organised group “in order to cause serious population intimidation and trigger the sense of uncertainty for citizens and institutions of the Republic of Kosovo”.

According to the indictment, the accused, aimed at -- the Kosovo Assembly -- being forced not to ratify the demarcation agreement with Montenegro and, in this case, to cause serious population intimidation and trigger a sense of uncertainty in Kosovo citizens on August 4th 2016 -- about 23rd and 05 from the parking lot in front of the Kosovo Assembly with rocket launchers have carried out the attack on the Kosovo Assembly.