Sessions against MPs charged with tear gas fail

Due to the lack of representatives of the Kosovo Assembly and the Kosovo Police, the hearing has failed in the case of former deputes Ismail Kurteshi and Haxhi Shala.

Both are being accused of throwing tear gas at a House session held on November 30th 2015, and of obstructing police during the time when the latter was trying to accompany him to the police, Albin Kurti, who had been deputy at the time.

Because of these actions of the accused, the MPs and administrative staff of the Parliament, as well as members of the police, are viewed as parties damaged.

The next session, which was scheduled to be held for this occasion Friday, has failed since Judge Erroll Gashi said the representative authorised by the Kosovo Assembly is not present at the session. He also announced that the representative authorised by police was present at the previous session.

In his address, prosecutor Menduh Kastrati said that with the drop of tear gas, MPs and administrative staff have been damaged, and, according to him, the Parliament's work has been hampered. For this reason, he said the Assembly meets the attributes of the damaged party, while in terms of police, the prosecutor said they are not considered in this case a damaged party. Such a statement, the prosecutor did it even though in the indictment, Kosovo police have been named a damaged party.

We consider the Parliament to meet attributes as a damaged party. As for the Kosovo Police, we consider that the same situations where they face obstruction in carrying out the official task, yet not necessarily the police are the injured party, so police in this case are not considered the damaged task force”, prosecutor Kastrati said. The prosecution's claims of injured parties in the case opposed the defender of accused Kurteshi, lawyer Teuta Zinnipotok. She said that as protection, they consider there are no parties damaged in this case because, according to her, the prosecution has not indicated in what way and which MPs have been injured.

“We consider as protection that the damaged parties do not have cases in this court because the prosecutor is fit to market how the Kosovo Parliament or the MP who are injured, who are the persons who have suffered injuries, what damage they have suffered” attorney Zinipotoku has said. She also added that tear gas does not pose a threat to human life and health, as she said, there is a ruling by the Court of Appeals that she had decided on a toxicology expertise.

While the former Self-Deputer of the Vetevendosje Movement, Ismajl Kurteshi, said the prosecutor in his own words alleged that one of the MPs could have suffered physical damage, and according to him, the court makes decisions based on facts rather than assumptions. The defender of the accused Shala, lawyer Naser Soopyan, said the state prosecutor's actions are the ones that have intervened in the work of the Parliament, because according to him, the Parliament has its mechanisms to initiate disciplinary procedure against MPs who have hampered the work of the Parliament. After the parties gave their opinions on who is the damaged party in this case, Friday's session was interrupted and the next was scheduled on September 2, 2021, 9:30.

Otherwise, this case has been tried at the Randa Crime Department, but now the subject is passed for trial at the General Department, to Judge Erroll Gashi. According to the indictment exercised on January 8, 2016, Ismajl Kurteshi and Haxhi Shala are charged that on November 30, 2015, around 11:00 at the Plenare Session Hall in the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo in Pristina, with the goal of cutting off session work, they have thrown tear gas, which they owned without authorization.

Under the indictment, while the Parliament Speaker was informing MPs on the agenda, accused Kurteshi and Shala had activated tear gas. For these actions, Ismajl Kurteshi and Haxhi Shala are charged with committing criminal work “the use of dangerous weapons or tools” by Article 375 par.1 of KPRK. Kurteshi and Shala are also charged with obstructing official persons in performing official duties, members of police and MPs of the Kosovo Republic of Kosovo Assembly, respectively.

One such thing, Haxhi Shala is accused of doing it in the quality of the MP from the Kosovo Initiative's ranks, so that several other MPs have tried to afford to join MP Albin Kurti's police members, as well as dropped tear gas, unable to hold the plenary session.

Kurteshi, on the other hand, is accused of throwing tear gas into the Assembly Hall at the November 30th 2015 session, unable to keep the session. For these actions, Kurteshi and Shala are also charged with criminal work “Peging the official person in performing official duties” by Article 409 par.1 concerning KPRK's 81. /Betimi for Justice/