Police Sergeant: Enver Sekiraqa has made deliberate and planned push for the killing of Triumf Riza

He has issued this statement at Tuesday's session at the Constitutional Court in Pristina in the retrial where Enver Sekiraqa is accused of inciting the murder of the late Riza.

For Riza's murder, Arben Berisha was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Witness Kozhan, who had been the case investigator for Riza's murder, said that on the basis of information they had had, they had not encountered in any case that the late Riza and already convicted of his murder, Arben Berisha had had had any earlier conflicts.

“We have noted that Arben Berisha has not had any open conflict with Triumf Riza, but allegations have gone to strengthen that Sekiraqa has used Arben for this murder and has made deliberate and planned push. From the evidence we have seen, Arben Berisha is identified as a member of their group, as there has been a presence among them and on the basis of communications between them”, the witness has said.

Witness Kozhani, responding to Special Prosecutor Haki Gecaj's questions, has said it remains close to five statements submitted in past reviews of the case.

He has said that on August 30th 2007, on the day Riza's murder took place, he had been on an annual vacation, saying the following day he was assigned to investigate this case, along with his colleague Burim Osmani.

According to him, he had access to 2-3 locations, such as the home of accused Sekiraqa, his brother's home, at the “bar. Sekiraqa”, at the Beatdown House and Ilir Abdullah, and another location that, according to the witness, could have been their cousin's.

He has said that only hours after the assassination was carried out, it was found that the head was Arben Berisha, who, according to him, was a member of the Sekiraqa group.

The Witness said that even though Arben Berisha had been found to have committed the murder because of earlier conflict between the late Riza and accused Sekiraqa, the house of the accused and the homes of his family had also been raided.

In view of the conflict between the deceased and the accused, that Triumfi has sought help from the police, information has been provided that Sekiraqa and his group have been involved in this murder”, the witness has said.

Information that the group of accused Sekiraqa had been involved in Riza's murder, the witness said they had come from the Intelligence and Analysis Directorate, which constantly deals with internal and external information.

He said any Kosovo police officer had been aware that Sekiraqa had also been suspected of other criminal acts.

Until the case of the murder has occurred, we haven't been handling information about Enver Seker Sequiraq's investigation, but the moment the case happened, we've been looking for information from this department and analyzing this info”, the witness said.

Witness Koshan and Enver Sekiraqa during the hearing held on Tuesday.

He mentioned a video recording that is on the subject records, which, according to the witness, is seen a party at the house of accused Sekiraqa, where he had guests in the court while convicted Arben Berisha according to him, is seen as standing guard at the front door and that he had recently received advice from the accused.

The witness has said that Arben Berisha has stayed with other members of the group, such as Ilir and Beating Abdullah, where he said he was present at the courtroom.

The attack has been arrested and convicted, but it has been released as part of the group, but here in the hall I saw it, suspicions that he is a member of the criminal group and proves today that he has come to follow his boss's process, and the needle adds to my suspicion that these needles are to function<1>, the witness said.

The defender of the accused Sekiraqa, Kosovo lawyer Kelmendi, asked the witness how it was possible that, as the witness had called the “criminal group”, there was no criminal procedure.

I said, "The previous time I was based on official paperwork, Enver Sekiraqa and his criminal group, I investigated it in 2007, when the murder of Triumf Riza happened, previous reports were sent in that direction, whether or not it was condemned for those works, the fact that I know it was condemned for certain works, but I'm not informed of all the paperwork, you were the witness response.

Lawyer Kelmendi asked the witness who, according to him, were the members of Enver Sekirasha's group.

In this regard, the witness has said that part of this group had been Beating Abdullah, Ilir Abdullah, who, according to him, is on the run for the case -- Fitim Avdiu, who, according to the witness, was sentenced by the tribunal after acting with Arben Berisha for the murder of Triumf Riza, but had never been captured by police, Arben Berisha, and other persons who said he did not remember.

Based on the SMS exchanges between Beatdown and Ilir Abdullah, as well as Arben Berisha and Fitim Avdiuou, and from the mapping of their movements on the day of the assassination, the witness said it constituted suspicions that the killing of Triff Riza has been well organised by what he called the criminal group Sekiraqa.

He said that according to earlier information, Sekiraqa had constantly threatened and harassed the deceased Riza, so according to him, the establishment and his house were raided.

Lawyer Kelmendi asked the witness about the police's action, which, according to her, two hours after the murder of the late Riza, had not yet been discovered who was chief of the criminal act, had raided the Sekiraqa local and arrested other people.

She asked whether this action of the Police had been taken solely on the basis of police assumption that no one other than Sekiraqa had any motive or other reason to deprive the deceased Riza of life.

I believe that the police in this case have had to go even faster than they did, not the police's speed to get to the scene, according to information from a witness from there, even weapons were withdrawn from Enver Sekiraqes' bar, so the police are not in a hurry, but it's been delayed, say the witness.

After the witness said she did not remember whether the late Riza had asked for help from police, lawyer Kelmendi confronted the official report, which had compiled the witness himself, in which she had declared that the late Riza had been offered protection from police, but his request had been to secure an armoured car and a long M-5 gun, but which police had not been able to provide.

After this confrontation, the witness said he was behind what he wrote in that report.

After the witness said that in the first few hours following Riza's murder, police had had had doubts that Sekiraqa was the only suspected lead, lawyer Kelmendi asked the witness why the probe against Sekira was launched after the death of the deceased.

We've started with the people arrested, until there's been a suspicion that even Enver Seker Sequirah” has responded to the witness.

Regarding several contradictions of Enver Sekerraq's mapping at the time of the criminal offence, the lawyer has asked the witness how it was possible to ascertain that Sekiraqa at 16:14 had been in Jugovich, while at 16:18 minutes or after four minutes in Obilic.

In this regard, the witness has said that these answers can be provided by the expert on this issue.

As the prosecutor's verbal order had not been uncovered in the process of raiding the Sekiraqa locals on the day of the prosecution of the crime, on August 30th 2007, the witness has said there was oral order by the presiding judge of the preliminary procedure, but, according to him, it could have been a technical mistake on the part of the police.

Lawyer Kelmendi has also asked the witness about the investigation that was conducted on January 21st 2015, in which police had gone to the home of Arben Berisha, who had been at the time suffering sentence.

I remember the international prosecutor continuing our investigation into the Sekiraqa and we went and verified what the prosecutor asked about the cost of the house that was built. By the time the murder was carried out, Arben Berisha had a house that has been almost collapsed. The police mistake has been that he didn't take a picture, and today he's serving his sentence has a nice good house”, the witness said.

Lawyer Kelmendi asked the witness about a Berisha family complaint just two days after his visit, in which the Berisha family complaint had declared that the witness had told them why they as a family were not influencing Arben Berisha to speak to the court about the work he has been tried for.

“I don't comment their claims, it's not true what they said”, the witness said, under which, there are doubts that Arben Berisha's family was manipulated.

The witness was also asked about the person Rayhan Ismaili, who, according to the witness, was interviewed about some of the money that had come to accused Sekiraqa from Spain, which the same person had pulled in part from his group.

But in this regard, accused Sekiraqa has said that this was not true because, according to him, he had bought a bar worth 113 thousand euros and that he had no need to ask for money in Spain.

Notes in this witness's testimony have been presented by lawyer Kelmendi, for according to her, as in three previous judgments, the witness has not been objective and that he gives his testimony on the basis of assumptions and gossip.

According to her, if this witness's faith were forgiven, the Court of Appeals would not turn the case into retrial.

Even the accused Sekiraqa has filed remarks on the testimony of this witness, for he said if his statement were forgiven, they would not be where they were today, but the case would be handled at the Court of Appeals.

The next session is expected on June 24, 2021, at 09:30.

The Constitutional Court in Pristina, for the second time on September 16th 2019, had convicted Enver Seker Sequirah of inciting the murder of former police officer Triumf Riza and had pronounced him a 30-year-long sentence, reports the “Justice Voctition”.

However, the Court of Appeals on March 6, 2020, had decided to approve Sequirah's defense complaint by turning the case for the second time to the retrial, as according to Apel, the first degree of judgment was taken in violation of criminal procedure provisions.

According to Appeals, the court in the first instance had held the court's amended court and had not begun again. Also, this court has found that the device of the complaint act was unclear, unintelligible and contradictory, while in reasoning according to Apel it had not been given sufficient and clear reasons regarding the crucial facts, as well as the legality of evidence provided by PTK.

Therefore, this court has instructed the first degree court to stress correctly what the incriminating actions the accused Sekiraqa carried out in this criminal case, as well as re-evaluate the legality of the local control “Bar Sekiraqa”, in line with the Criminal Procedure Code in order to assess whether these evidence gathered during local control were acceptable.

Also, this court had instructed that witnesses Abednego Cannolly be heard in the retrial about the role of Sequirah in his group, about people obeying the orders of Sequirah and how he tasked witnesses Canol and Jafer Bislim.

The secret for the same case was sentenced to May 17, 2016, for two criminal acts for “inciting the commission to commit serious murder” and for the “dyrim” with a unique sentence of 37 years in prison, and had been released for criminal work “rape”. But that sentence was cancelled after complaints, and the subject had turned into retrial.

In April 2014, the Special Prosecutor of the Republic of Kosovo had filed charges against Enver Seker Sequirah for three criminal acts, for inciting the murder of Triumf Riza, <x0).

The prosecution claims the incident occurred in “Swiss Casino” between Sequirah and Riza was one of the motives that led to the killing of Triumf Riza.

In “incident Swiss Casino” had occurred in December 2006, while Enver Sekiraqa and several of his escorts were included on one side, and the late Triumf Riza of Arben Selmani on the other. Arben Selmani was left in this seriously injured incident.

Triumf Riza was killed on August 30th in 2007, for which Arben Berisha has been sentenced to 35 years in prison. / Justice Trust