Dehari case, Gashi accuses Baton Haxhiu: He released prison footage before the prosecutor received it to influence public opinion

Tomë Gashi, the lawyer representing Astrit Dehari’s family, has accused journalist Baton Haxhiu of releasing security camera footage from Prizren prison in the days after Dehari’s death with the aim of manipulating public opinion. According to Gashi, the footage was made public before it was provided to the prosecutor investigating the case.

Gashi alleges that Haxhiu, the former director of Klan Kosova, had obtained a CD containing recordings from the corridor and other areas of Prizren prison. The lawyer says information about the acquisition and release of this material was publicly available and that he had verified it as true.

For the family’s representative, the alleged attempts to shape public perceptions through certain journalists constitute one of the most painful aspects of the case’s development. He links Haxhiu’s release of the footage directly to such an attempt to influence how the public understood Astrit Dehari’s death.

The accusations concerning the acquisition and release of the CD remain allegations by Tomë Gashi and do not constitute a court finding regarding Baton Haxhiu’s responsibility. No response from Haxhiu to these allegations had been found in the sources reviewed by the time this article was published.

Astrit Dehari was found dead in Prizren prison on November 5, 2016. His case remains among those that stir the strongest emotions and debate in Kosovo.

According to Gashi, the family has never stopped seeking justice and a full account of what happened. It is awaiting a final decision from the Special Prosecutor’s Office, the institution handling the case.

The lawyer said he has met frequently with both prosecutors who previously handled the case and the current prosecutor. He expressed hope that the latter would finally reach a decision establishing the truth in legal terms, an expectation he says the Dehari family shares.

Referring to physical evidence and forensic examinations conducted in Switzerland, Gashi reiterated that he remains convinced Astrit Dehari was murdered.

He singled out photographs of Dehari’s body and documents from the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Switzerland as key elements that, in the family’s view, support the allegation of murder. In this context, the lawyer also mentioned the identification of a third person’s DNA during analyses carried out by Swiss experts.

Gashi also criticized the length of the proceedings and the fact that the case has yet to reach a final resolution. As he stressed, the family continues to wait for the justice institutions to clarify all the circumstances surrounding Astrit Dehari’s death.