Fehim Sali, a teacher from Dragash, was arrested on Thursday by the Kosovo Police on suspicion of carrying out espionage activities for the Serbian Intelligence Agency, BIA. The following day, the Special Department of the Basic Court in Pristina ordered him held in pretrial detention for one month.
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The Special Prosecution suspects that Sali was recruited by Zhelimir Matović, an official with Serbia’s BIA, to whom he allegedly passed information through ongoing communications.
The request for pretrial detention states that, under the BIA official’s instructions, he is suspected of collecting and transmitting data related to political developments in Kosovo.
Sali is also suspected of identifying officials from the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, including by photographing them.
According to the Prosecution, his suspected activities also involved people belonging to the Wahhabi sect, as well as other individuals whom Sali allegedly suggested as potential targets for BIA to contact and recruit.
The investigation against him began in June 2025, after the KIA forwarded information about the suspicious activity to the Special Prosecution.
The prosecutor in the case, Bekim Kodraliu, said on Friday that evidence gathered by the Kosovo Police in cooperation with the KIA had established reasonable suspicion that Sali had been recruited by BIA.
Kodraliu said reasonable suspicion had been substantiated that the defendant had been recruited by the Serbian Intelligence Agency, specifically by an official from that service, Zhelimir Matović.
According to the prosecutor, the Prosecution considers the information provided by Sali harmful to the interests of the state of Kosovo.
He said that the defendant himself had also admitted that he had been recruited and had maintained ongoing contact with BIA officials.
After Sali was detained, investigators from the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Serious Crimes, together with the Special Prosecution, searched his residence in Dragash.
The search resulted in the seizure of €39,500 in cash, 500 Serbian dinars, four mobile phones and various documents deemed relevant to the case.
Reacting to the case, former KLA officer Naim Miftari said that Serbia has had extensive information about Kosovo to date, particularly about the KSF, the Police and the KIA.
He cited the case of Osman Musa and raised the question of how much information Musa may have passed to the Serbian UDB while serving in the Kosovo Police.
According to Miftari, Serbia was so well informed about Kosovo, particularly about the KSF, the Police and the KIA, that it even knew the amount of ammunition and how many bullets Kosovo possessed. As an example, he cited Osman Musa, who had been a senior officer and had held sensitive positions within the Kosovo Police.
Miftari claims that after Musa realized he had been exposed—but not by state institutions—he panicked, fled to Britain and revealed there that he was an agent of the Serbian UDB-BIA in Kosovo.
In his statement to “Bota sot,” the former officer asked how much information had been sent to the Serbian UDB while Musa was part of the Kosovo Police. He added that Kosovo never filed an indictment for treason in connection with the case and never submitted an extradition request.
Miftari also drew attention to other people who, according to his allegations, worked for Serbia.
He mentioned Fatmir Sheholli, whom he described as a former UDB operative, claiming that Ilmi Recica and Latif Gashi had brought him into SHIK on the grounds that he was delivering sacks of documents to the service. According to Miftari, these were stories used to conceal their failure.
He also claims that the same person, whom he referred to by the initials F. Sh., had received hundreds of thousands of euros from A. J. U., purportedly for information he was supposedly obtaining from Serbia. Miftari called these claims fairy tales and outright theft carried out through agent Sheholli.
According to him, had Sheholli not been arrested for a few more days, he would have continued appearing constantly in television studios as a hero who had helped the LDK before the war. Miftari said he had stated on television and at public NGOs that F. Sheholli was expected to be proclaimed the KLA’s commander-in-chief as well.
Among the names he mentioned was Baton Haxhiu, whom Miftari called Ivica Stanišić’s former postman after the war and an adviser to Hashim Thaçi, SHIK leaders, Kadri Veseli and Edi Rama. He also mentioned Gani Thaçi, whom he described as a UDB operative in Kosovo.
Miftari went on to mention Hashim Thaçi and Kadri Veseli, calling them collaborators and employees of the Serbian son-in-law, agent Denhear Arnaud, who was the DGSE’s chief for the Balkans. According to him, that service openly partitioned northern Kosovo in Serbia’s interest through the French KFOR contingent in Mitrovica.
He also cited the example of Branislav Nikolić, whom he called an agent of the Serbian UDB-BIA and whom, according to him, Hashim Thaçi appointed as an adviser while he was president. Miftari claims that Nikolić was caught by the Kosovo Police together with two other agents while they were attempting to buy false witnesses against the KLA over allegations of organ trafficking, which he called a major lie against the KLA.
The former officer said that while he was free and held the offices of prime minister and president, Hashim Thaçi presented himself as the leading figure of the KLA. According to Miftari, after he was imprisoned for war crimes by the Specialist Chambers, Thaçi said—in an effort to evade responsibility—that he had been far removed from the front lines, the war and the command, as well as from the role of the KLA’s main figure.
According to Miftari, such cases existed before the war and after it ended, and they continue to exist today.
Nevertheless, he said the day would come when BIA would lose its significance and no longer pose a threat to the state of Kosovo.
Miftari said there were many other cases as well and that UDB had been present in Kosovo before the war and after it, and remains present today. According to him, it is growing weaker every day thanks to the state, the Government, the Police, the KIA and the Prosecution.
He believes that one day BIA will become irrelevant and will no longer pose a danger to Kosovo, but stressed that this can be achieved only by never letting up and by protecting the state 24 hours a day, every week, month and year.
In conclusion, Miftari said that even water talks, but the enemy does not, adding that anyone who wants to preserve the peace and freedom of their people and state must prepare well for war. According to him, no one should be allowed to catch Kosovo by surprise.
Fehim Sali’s institutional background was also included as an element in the request for pretrial detention.
He had served as a member of the Consultative Council for Communities within the Office of the President of Kosovo, a position he held until he was dismissed in May 2024.
The Prosecution mentioned this position as part of the circumstances related to the case.
The Basic Court in Pristina found that there was a risk Sali could flee, influence witnesses and evidence, or repeat or continue the criminal offense.
The assessment of his flight risk was also influenced by the fact that Sali was arrested on August 13 at around 4:00 a.m. at the Merdare border crossing while leaving Kosovo.
The court also took into consideration that he holds both Kosovo and Serbian citizenship and has family ties in Serbia.
The defense opposed the pretrial detention order, stressing that Sali has a permanent residence, family and employment in Kosovo. According to the defense, his trips to Serbia were made for family and personal reasons.
Despite these arguments, the court found that house arrest, bail and other less restrictive measures would neither guarantee his presence nor prevent interference with the investigation.
Fehim Sali will remain in pretrial detention until September 13, 2026, while the investigation into the case continues.
