Gani Geci’s lawyer challenges 30-day pretrial detention: We will appeal

Besnik Berisha, the lawyer of former LDK MP Gani Geci, described the decision to place his client in 30-day pretrial detention as unlawful and unnecessary.

After the hearing concluded, Berisha said the measure imposed was inconsistent with the court’s practice to date. He announced that the decision would be challenged through an appeal to the Court of Appeals within the statutory deadline.

According to the lawyer, the pretrial detention was ordered more because of Gani Geci’s name than because the legal conditions had been met. Berisha said there was no doubt that both Geci and he himself supported freedom of expression, adding that there had been a misunderstanding between what was requested and the way the matter was reported.

Berisha explained that Gani Geci had only asked for his family not to be associated with Serbia and not to be publicly vilified. He noted that, in Geci’s request to journalist Lirim Mehmetaj, the phrase “for God’s sake, get away, because this is how we’re going to get killed” had been used, which the prosecutor had included in his request.

The lawyer said Geci’s reaction was not intended as a threat. According to him, Geci was concerned that such an article could incite hatred and endanger the safety or lives of his family members. Berisha recalled that on October 19, 2001, Gani Geci had been the victim of a treacherous attack in which several of his closest friends were killed, including a journalist.

Meanwhile, Fadil, Gani Geci’s brother, said that their family had helped build the state rather than benefited from it.

Gani Geci is suspected of threatening journalist Lirim Mehmetaj on Sunday, following a post published on Facebook about MP Fatos Geci, a member of the Geci family from Llausha.