Commission for the recognition and verification of the status war veterans
More resultsIntroduction
In January 2012, the Government of Kosovo established the State Commission for the Recognition and Verification of the Status of Martyrs, Invalids and War Veterans. The commission reviewed the applications of citizens to obtain Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) veteran status, which entitles holders to a state pension (see here and here).
- Country
- Kosovo
- Sector
- Public finance
- Offence
- Violating the equal status of citizens
- Phase
- 1st instance verdict
Description of the case
In January 2012, the Government of Kosovo established the State Commission for the Recognition and Verification of the Status of Martyrs, Invalids and War Veterans. The commission reviewed the applications of citizens to obtain Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) veteran status, which entitles holders to a state pension (see here and here).
During the application period from 15 November 2012 until 28 February 2013, the commission accepted over 50,000 applications. It decided to extend the deadline and continued accepting applications until 2015. In this period, the number of applications rose to 100,000. However, various reports and statistics state that the Kosovo Liberation Army had no more than 25,000 members (see here and here).
In June 2016, Kosovo’s Special Prosecution initiated an investigation claiming that the commission committed serious violations during the verification process by manipulating and inflating the number of veterans. The commission allowed the same officials who verified the applications in the first phase to review the complaints. This made the possibility of further manipulation even more likely. In addition, the commission was accused of certifying applicants with KLA veteran status when the verification of final lists was still ongoing.
A total of 46,230 applications for KLA veteran status were approved. However, approximately 19,000 of these applicants did not meet the requirements for this status and the right to a state pension.
In addition to a state pension, KLA veterans receive benefits such as free health care, priority employment, free urban transport, priority admission to public education institutions and exemption from administrative fees for public universities. According to the media, people paid bribes of up to €5,000 to receive veteran status. These actions damaged the budget of the Republic of Kosovo, costing an amount claimed to be €68.1 million (see here).
Members of the state commission are nominated by the Prime Minister’s Office, ministries and representatives of organisations of veterans. Agim Çeku, Nuredin Lushtaku, Sadik Halitjaha, Shkumbin Demaliaj, Qelë Gashi, Shukri Buja, Ahmet Daku, Rrustem Berisha, Faik Fazliu, Smajl Elezaj, Fadil Shurdhaj and Xhavit Jashari were all ex-commanders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) who became commission members. After the war, many of them held senior positions in public offices such as prime minister, minister, deputy minister, member of parliament, mayor or head of a veterans’ association.
Applicable corruption offence
Abuse of official position or authority (Article 414 of the Criminal Code)
Suspects' institutional affiliation
All defendants are members of the government Commission for the Recognition and Verification of the Status of Martyrs, Invalids and War Veterans. All are former KLA commanders and most of them later held public office (see here and here):
- Agim Çeku, former KLA commander-in-chief, former prime minister of the Government of Kosovo and former deputy minister of the Ministry of Kosovo Security Force
- Nuredin Lushtaku, one of the founders of the KLA, former Kosovo Guard commander, former deputy minister of the Ministry of Diaspora, former member of parliament in the Kosovo Assembly and now deputy mayor of the Municipality of Skenderaj
- Shkumbin Demaliaj, former commander in the Dukagjini Zone and a member of parliament in the Kosovo Assembly
- Shukri Buja, former commander of the Nerodima Operational Zone, former mayor of Lipjan and former Kosovo Assembly member
- Rrustem Berisha, former commander of the Agim Ramadani brigade, former member of parliament and former minister of the Ministry of Kosovo Security Force
- Faik Fazliu, chair of the KLA War Veterans’ Office in the Prime Minister’s Office
- Sadik Halitjaha, former commander of the Pashtrik Operational Zone
- Xhavit Jashari, chair of the KLA Martyrs’ Families Association
- Qelë Gashi, former commander of the Llap Operational Zone
- Ahmet Daku, former commander of the Karadak Operational Zone
- Fadil Shurdhaj, chair of the KLA War Invalids Association
Date of offending
2011 to 2017 (see here)
Sector affected
Public finance
Related developments
Prosecutor Elez Blakaj, who opened the investigations and prepared a 900-page draft indictment against the defendants, resigned in August 2018 and left Kosovo. Through a Facebook post on his official account, he claimed that he was receiving threats in different forms including phone calls, messages and in-person threats. After the resignation of Elez Blakaj, his successor filed an edited indictment.
Court
Basic Court of Pristina
Related domestic or foreign cases
The suspect, Shukri Buja, was the also the main suspect in the Kosovo Ferronikel case.
Current phase of the case in criminal procedure
1st instance judgement
Procedural history
In June 2016, the Special Prosecution of Kosovo announced that they were investigating the KLA war veterans’ verification process. The prosecution suspected that the lists were being manipulated. The indictment was filed officially on 7 December 2018, charging the 12 members of the State Commission for the Recognition and Verification of the Status of Martyrs, Invalids and War Veterans with abuse of official position or authority. An initial hearing was held on 14 March 2019. In August 2019, the Court of Appeals approved the indictment. The Basic Court of Pristina started trying the defendants in December 2019 (see here and here). In January 2021, all defendants were acquitted of the charges over a lack of evidence to support the prosecution’s claim.
Obstacles
Prosecutor Elez Blakaj, who initiated the investigation, received threats. Blakaj resigned and left the country because of the threats.
Resolution of the case
The defendants have been acquitted.
Applicable minimum and maximum penalty
Article 414, Abuse of official position or authority:
- An official person, who, by taking advantage of his office or official authority, exceeds the limits of his or her authorisations or does not execute his or her official duties with the intent to acquire any benefit for himself or another person or to cause damage to another person or to seriously violates the rights of another person, shall be punished by imprisonment of one (1) to eight (8) years.
- An official person who commits the offense in paragraphs 1. of this Article and the actual benefit or damage exceeds five thousand (5000) euros, shall be punished by a fine and by imprisonment of three (3) to ten (10) years.
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