From Fehim Sali to Jelena Gjukanoviq, cases exposing suspected espionage networks in Kosovo

The arrests and convictions recorded so far in Kosovo for espionage share a common element: suspected links to Serbia’s intelligence service, the BIA, which is believed to have invested for years in recruiting collaborators in the country.

The latest case involves Feim Sali, who was stopped from leaving Kosovo at the Merdare border crossing. He was arrested on August 13 on suspicion of spying for Serbia’s BIA.

Earlier, Hysri Selimi had also been charged with the same criminal offence. At the conclusion of the trial, the former ISIS member himself admitted that he had been part of Serbia’s BIA.

Another espionage case ended with a guilty verdict in April 2026. Former OSCE official Jelena Gjukanoviq was found guilty and sentenced to six years in prison.

Feim Sali, Hysri Selimi and Jelena Gjukanoviq are the three most recent cases in which Kosovo’s justice and security institutions have been engaged over suspicions of espionage.

Lawyer Arbër Jashari believes these developments demonstrate a greater institutional focus on this criminal offence in recent years.

“It is encouraging that the state of Kosovo, especially over the past three years, has made extraordinarily significant progress in combating this type of crime. This type of crime was previously not widely known. It existed only as a criminal offence in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo, but before 2023, very few people were arrested, tried and even fewer convicted for such criminal offences. This shows that perhaps in the past, we as a state were not very vigilant towards this type of crime,” lawyer Arbër Jashari told Tëvë1.

According to Jashari, the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo provides for harsh measures against people who commit this offence, while the length of the sentence depends on how it was committed.

“Depending on the manner in which this offence is committed, the minimum sentence may be five years, but the maximum can reach 10 or 12 years, and in certain cases, during wartime or states of emergency, it may vary with much higher sentences,” he said.

The information provided to people engaged in espionage activities is considered particularly important to the state. Professor Fatmir Çollaku says that through it, enemy states can obtain non-public data and use it against the national interest.

“This confidential information is of national interest, and if it is supplied or given to someone else for the purpose of gaining any benefit, whatever the nature of that benefit, it is considered to have harmed our state. For this reason, those persons are suspected of committing these criminal offences of espionage and are undoubtedly harmful to Kosovo’s security, because the enemy state, another state, receives information that is not public and on the basis of which it can create a plan or scenario detrimental to the national interest, namely to national security,” he said.

Kosovo’s Special Prosecutor’s Office has announced that, in addition to the cases already made public, it is also investigating other individuals suspected of links to espionage and cooperation with the BIA, Serbia’s intelligence service.