Vlora Hyseni, director of Albania’s State Intelligence Service, is at the center of an operation by the Special Prosecution. Acting on a request from SPAK, the Special Court has ordered that she be placed under house arrest and suspended from her post.
Të lidhura
None found
The allegations against Hyseni relate to two criminal offenses: “supporting the perpetrator of a crime” and “disclosing classified acts or data.” The measure has not yet been enforced because she is currently outside Albanian territory. According to sources, the SHISH director is attending an international conference of intelligence-service chiefs in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The investigation that led SPAK to the head of Albanian intelligence began with the case involving businessman Ergys Agasi. Video footage and evidence seized from his premises served as the starting point for opening a new branch of the AKSHI case.
According to reports by Report TV, the footage shows Agasi meeting senior government figures, including ministers and heads of institutions. Agasi himself confirmed before the Court of Appeals that he had met with such officials, but denied that these contacts constituted a crime. For the time being, no details have been made public about exactly what the evidence concerning Vlora Hyseni contains, what data she is suspected of having disclosed, or how she may have assisted the perpetrator of a crime.
Today’s development has renewed attention on an important decision by Prime Minister Edi Rama. Hyseni worked for years at Kosovo’s Intelligence Agency, where in 2019 she rose to the position of deputy director and also served as head of the institution for a period. On June 30, 2021, she was dismissed from that position by President Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti.
The decision published in Kosovo’s Official Gazette did not state the reasons for her dismissal. Hyseni was instructed to return official equipment and materials, while being reminded of her obligation to maintain the confidentiality of classified information. Although this wording is not evidence of a data leak, the removal of an official of this rank from Kosovo’s intelligence service should have been viewed as a warning signal by any other state considering offering her a comparable position.
Just a few months after her dismissal, Edi Rama brought Hyseni on as a national security adviser. On March 17, 2023, the prime minister proposed her name to President Bajram Begaj to head SHISH, and on April 3 she received the official decree appointing her head of Albania’s intelligence service.
This means that an official removed from the leadership of Kosovo’s Intelligence Agency was not placed in a secondary position in Albania. Rama initially kept her close to him on security matters and later handed her the institution that manages the state’s most sensitive secrets and cooperation with NATO partners.
The case constitutes a highly unusual precedent. It is rare for an official dismissed from one country’s intelligence service to be placed, after such a short period, at the head of the corresponding service in a neighboring state. This fact is all the more sensitive given the close relationship that should exist between Kosovo and Albania in the field of national security.
Albania’s official authorities have never publicly explained a number of questions that have been raised: Did Prime Minister Rama seek information about the reasons for Hyseni’s dismissal by Kosovo’s institutions? Were President Osmani and Prime Minister Kurti consulted before he hired her as an adviser? Did Hyseni undergo a special security-vetting process before being appointed to SHISH? And why was such a sensitive decision made without any accountability to Albanian and Kosovar citizens?
Political responsibility for these questions remains, regardless of the outcome of the criminal proceedings. Even in a scenario in which Hyseni is acquitted, Rama will have to clarify the criteria and information that led him to entrust the leadership of Albanian intelligence to a figure previously dismissed by Kosovo’s authorities.
Hyseni’s appointment had already raised suspicions in 2023. Albania’s opposition spoke of possible links to Belgrade and an alleged secret trip to Serbia. SHISH categorically denied the claim, stating that Hyseni had not held any meetings outside Albania after taking office. To date, there is no public evidence that the appointment was influenced by Belgrade, and SPAK’s current investigation concerns Ergys Agasi and the AKSHI case, not Serbia.
Nevertheless, this development cannot be separated from the context of distrust that has emerged in Kosovo and the diaspora toward Edi Rama’s policy regarding Belgrade. His close political relationship with Aleksandar Vučić and Rama’s continued clashes with Kosovo’s institutions have convinced a large part of the public that Albania’s official authorities show more understanding toward Serbian demands than toward Pristina’s concerns. This perception, although political and not judicial evidence, cannot be ignored. For precisely this reason, Rama must publicly explain the reasons for choosing Hyseni and the vetting process that preceded her appointment.
Suspicion of the disclosure of classified information raises serious concerns about Albania’s national security and information shared with allied countries. However, a security measure is not equivalent to guilt. Only the investigation will determine the nature of the information allegedly disclosed, who may have obtained it, and the potential damage caused.
Democratic Party MP Jorida Tabaku called on President Bajram Begaj to convene the National Security Council without delay, in order to clarify whether state data, the functioning of institutions, and citizens’ security have been compromised.
The investigations are ongoing, and official announcements are expected from SPAK, SHISH, the Presidency, the Prime Minister’s Office, and Vlora Hyseni’s legal defense. She and the other people involved in the investigation are presumed innocent until a final court ruling.
