The Basic Court in Pristina has found former Infrastructure Minister Pal Lekaj, his former political adviser Eset Berisha, former Secretary-General Nebih Shatri and former Director of Public Procurement Besim Tahiri guilty in the retrial of the case known as the “53-million case”.

Pal Lekaj was sentenced to 3 years and 8 months in prison, while being barred from exercising public functions in the administration or public service for 3 years and 6 months.

Eset Berisha was sentenced to 3 years and 3 months in prison, along with a 3-year ban on exercising public functions.

Nebih Shatri and Besim Tahiri were each sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison. For both of them, the court also imposed a 2-year ban on exercising public functions.

The retrial was held after the Court of Appeals annulled the Basic Court’s initial judgment, issued on January 31, 2024. In the initial proceedings, all four defendants were sentenced to a total of 10 years and 3 months in prison.

The case concerns an additional payment of 53.1 million euros to the “Bechtel & Enka” consortium following the extension of the deadline for completing work on the Pristina–Hani i Elezit motorway, known as the “Arbën Xhaferi” motorway.

According to the indictment filed on February 4, 2022, the Special Prosecution alleges that the defendants acted jointly and intentionally when allocating the funds. At the time, Lekaj was Infrastructure Minister, Berisha was his adviser, Shatri was Secretary-General, and Tahiri was Director of Public Procurement.

Following the decision, the Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo said it welcomed the guilty verdict issued in the retrial as well.

The prosecuting institution assessed that the decision represents an important step toward strengthening the rule of law and ensuring accountability in cases of high-level corruption.

“The Special Prosecution reaffirms its commitment to fighting corruption and prosecuting all possible perpetrators,” the statement said.

The Basic Court’s decision is not final. The parties may challenge it by appealing to the Court of Appeals.

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The retrial of the case known as the “€53 million case” continued at the Basic Court in Pristina, where Pal Lekaj, Eset Berisha, Nebih Shatri and Besim Tahiri are accused of abusing their official positions in connection with the “Arbën Xhaferi” motorway. The defendants stated that they stood by the testimony and statements they had given during the first trial, choosing to remain silent.

Pal Lekaj, former minister of the Ministry of Infrastructure (MI); Eset Berisha, his senior political adviser; Nebih Shatri, former secretary-general of the ministry; and Besim Tahiri, former director of Public Procurement at the MI, are being prosecuted by the Prosecution for jointly abusing their official positions, “Betimi për Drejtësi” reports.

Before the defendants gave their statements, the trial panel primarily admitted documentary evidence. The panel consists of presiding judge Violeta Namani-Hajra and members Rrahman Beqiri and Donikë Shala-Abdyli.

The evidence admitted included the agreement between the Government of Kosovo and “Bechtel and Enka” for the construction of the “Arbën Xhaferi” motorway, the response from the Public Procurement Regulatory Commission, information from the Office of the Prime Minister, and the agenda of a government meeting.

Special Prosecutor Valdet Gashi objected to this evidence, describing it as irrelevant to the case. According to him, the Prosecution does not dispute the work on the motorway, but rather the legal basis on which the payment of €53 million for the work on the “Arbën Xhaferi” motorway was made.

Pal Lekaj’s lawyer, Artan Qerkini, argued that this very evidence demonstrates the absence of intent on the part of his client. According to the defense, Lekaj had merely implemented the government’s decision to make the additional payment to the construction company “Bechtel and Enka”.

Qerkini’s position was also supported by Nebih Shatri’s lawyer, Driton Musliu; Besim Tahiri’s lawyer, Urim Vokshi; and Eset Berisha’s lawyer, Teuta Xhema.

At lawyer Vokshi’s proposal, five decisions of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, adopted during 2017 and 2018 and concerning the expropriation of property, were also admitted into the proceedings. The proposal was supported by the other defense lawyers.

Prosecutor Gashi objected to the request. He explained that the issue was not the extension of the construction deadline due to expropriations, but the way compensation for this extension had been assessed.

After the defendants stated that they would remain silent, the hearing was adjourned. The proceedings will continue at the next hearing, when the parties will present their closing arguments.

Earlier, the former president of the Basic Court in Pristina, Albina Shabani-Rama, had rejected Eset Berisha’s request to exclude the presiding judge of the trial panel, Violeta Namani-Hajra, from hearing the “€53 million case”.

On January 31, 2024, the Basic Court in Pristina found Pal Lekaj, Eset Berisha, Nebih Shatri and Besim Tahiri guilty, sentencing them to a total of 10 years and 3 months in prison.

According to the first-instance verdict, Pal Lekaj was sentenced to 3 years and 8 months in prison. He was also given an additional sentence barring him from exercising public functions in the public administration or public service for 3 years and 6 months.

Nebih Shatri and Besim Tahiri were each sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison. The court also barred them from exercising public functions in the public administration or public service for 2 years. Eset Berisha was sentenced to 3 years and 3 months in prison.

Berisha was also given an additional sentence, namely a ban on exercising public functions in the public administration or public service for a period of 3 years.

The Court of Appeals subsequently remanded the case for retrial against all four defendants: Pal Lekaj, Eset Berisha, Nebih Shatri and Besim Tahiri.

“Betimi për Drejtësi” had previously reported on the full decision of the Basic Court in Pristina, publishing its findings concerning the statements of the defendants and witnesses, as well as the conclusions of the Court of Appeals.

The indictment, filed on February 4, 2022, by the Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo, charges Pal Lekaj, who was then minister of the Ministry of Infrastructure; Eset Berisha, his senior political adviser; Nebih Shatri, the ministry’s secretary-general; and Besim Tahiri, director of Public Procurement at the MI, with intentionally abusing their official positions in concert while allocating €53 million to the “Bechtel & Enka” consortium. The amount was intended for the construction of the Pristina–Hani i Elezit motorway, also known as the “Arbën Xhaferi” motorway.

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The Basic Court of Pristina will announce its verdict tomorrow against Glauk Konjufca, who is accused of throwing tear gas in the Assembly.

During closing arguments in the retrial against the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, prosecutor Dardan Çela requested that Konjufca be found guilty and receive an appropriate sentence. Meanwhile, his defense attorney, Arbnora Zeqiri, said she expects an acquittal.

Prosecutor Çela stated that he stands by the closing arguments presented during the previous trial hearing.

During the defense phase, Glauk Konjufca, former president of the Assembly of Kosovo and currently acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, chose to remain silent regarding the charge of throwing tear gas in the Assembly.

“I declare myself innocent and have no further comment,” Konjufca said.

The verdict is expected to be announced at 13:00.

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The criminal case against Kreshnik Haliti will be tried again for the third time after the Court of Appeals upheld the defense’s appeal and annulled the judgment against him.

Haliti is accused of killing his friend M.Z. on March 6, 2017, on “Myrvete Maksutaj” Street in Peja, over a debt of €77,000.

The case files show that, during the second retrial, the Basic Court in Peja found Haliti guilty on December 1, 2025, and imposed an aggregate sentence of 19 years in prison.

The judgment was also challenged by the Basic Prosecution Office in Peja. Its appeal was based on claims of violations of the Criminal Code, the decision on the criminal sanction, and the section concerning procedural costs.

The Prosecution had asked the Court of Appeals to amend the Basic Court’s decision, find Haliti guilty of the criminal offense of “Aggravated Murder,” and impose a harsher sentence. Alternatively, based on the aggravating circumstances, it requested a sentence of 20 years in prison.

Regarding procedural costs, the Prosecution had proposed that they be determined precisely and presented in detail.

Attorney Gëzim Kollçaku, acting as the authorized representative of the injured party, had also appealed the sentencing decision. He likewise asked the Court of Appeals to amend the judgment and impose a harsher sentence on the defendant.

Meanwhile, Haliti’s defense attorney, Nushe Kuka-Mekaj, had appealed the decision on the grounds of substantial violations of criminal procedure provisions, violations of the Criminal Code, an erroneous and incomplete determination of the facts, and the sentencing decision.

Kuka-Mekaj had requested that the criminal offense be reclassified as “Murder Committed in a State of Severe Mental Distress” or that her client receive a more lenient sentence. If the judgment was not amended, the defense proposed that proceedings be opened before the Court of Appeals.

In a written submission, the Appellate Prosecution Office proposed that the appeals of the Basic Prosecution Office and the injured party be upheld, while the defense’s appeal be rejected.

Findings of the Court of Appeals

In its decision drafted on April 7, 2026, the Court of Appeals found that the Basic Court’s judgment contained substantial violations of criminal procedure provisions because it largely lacked clear reasoning concerning the decisive facts.

According to the second-instance court, the key facts in the case had been described extensively, but the witnesses’ testimony had not been properly analyzed.

“Such a generalized assessment is insufficient and unacceptable,” the Court of Appeals’ decision states.

The Court of Appeals also noted that the Basic Court had failed to assess contradictory evidence. This included discrepancies between expert evaluations addressing the defendant’s mental state.

The Court of Appeals did not examine the other claims raised in the appeals because it concluded that the first-instance judgment was marred by substantial violations of criminal procedure and therefore had to be annulled.

At the retrial, according to the Court of Appeals’ instructions, the Basic Court must act in accordance with the observations provided, remedy the substantial procedural violations, and draft the judgment in compliance with legal requirements.

The Basic Court was instructed to hear all the evidence again and, depending on the course of the proceedings, potentially obtain additional evidence that may be relevant to determining the facts.

The decision also requires that the retrial properly and clearly establish Haliti’s mental and psychological condition at the time the acts were committed. Since two expert evaluations reached opposing conclusions, the Court of Appeals also requested that a super-expert evaluation be ordered.

The Court of Appeals’ decision was issued by a judicial panel composed of presiding judge Skender Çoçaj and members Mentor Hajra and Arben Hoti.

In the initial trial, on July 4, 2018, the Basic Court in Peja found Kreshnik Haliti guilty and sentenced him to an aggregate term of 22 years and six months in prison.

That judgment was later annulled by the Court of Appeals on the grounds that it contained violations of criminal procedure and that the facts had not been fully established.

In the subsequent retrial, on October 31, 2023, the Basic Court in Peja imposed an aggregate sentence of 20 years and six months in prison on Haliti for the criminal offense of “Murder.”

However, on March 18, 2024, the Court of Appeals again sent the case back for retrial, upholding the appeals filed by the Basic Prosecution Office in Peja and Haliti’s defense attorney, Besnik Berisha.

In the second retrial, in its decision of December 12, 2025, the Basic Court sentenced the defendant to an aggregate term of 19 years in prison.

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Arlind Ahmeti and Agron Vllasaliu have each been sentenced to 17 years in prison in the fourth retrial over the murder of N.S., which occurred in central Pristina in November 2017. In the third retrial, the Basic Court in Pristina had sentenced them to 16 years in prison each.

The decision was announced on Tuesday by the trial panel comprising Judge Ilir Foniqi and members Fatime Dermaku and Ertan Sejfulla, “Betimi për Drejtësi” reports.

Judge Foniqi announced that Ahmeti and Vllasaliu were found guilty of the criminal offense of “aggravated murder committed jointly with eventual intent,” for which each was sentenced to 15 years in prison. For the offense of “unauthorized possession of weapons,” they were each sentenced to two and a half years in prison, while the aggregate sentence for each was set at 17 years’ imprisonment.

The two defendants’ detention on remand has been extended.

Those present at the sentencing hearing included attorney Driton Musliu, Vllasaliu’s defense counsel; attorney Asdren Hoxha, Ahmeti’s defense counsel; and the injured party, Shemsie Aliu-Sahiti. The two defendants followed the proceedings from prison via video link.

The injured party was instructed to pursue her claim through regular civil proceedings.

The parties that disagree with the judgment may file an appeal within 30 days of receiving the written decision.

The case’s judicial history began with the Basic Court in Pristina’s decision of April 16, 2019. After reclassifying the criminal offense, the court found Arlind Ahmeti guilty of incitement to aggravated murder and imposed an aggregate sentence of 17 years in prison. At the time, Agron Vllasaliu was at large.

In November 2019, the Court of Appeals decided to remand the case to the first-instance court for a new trial, finding that the judgment of April 16, 2019, was contrary to legal provisions.

The Basic Court in Pristina issued another guilty verdict on December 13, 2022. Agron Vllasaliu and Arlind Ahmeti were each sentenced at that time to 21 years in prison for jointly committing the aggravated murder of the late N.S. in Pristina in 2017.

Following appeals by attorney Nexhmedin Sejdiu, representing the injured parties; Arlind Ahmeti’s defense attorneys, Asdren Hoxha and Fitim Malokaj; and Agron Vllasaliu’s defense attorney, Florent Latifaj, the Court of Appeals overturned the Basic Court in Pristina’s judgment on March 23, 2023. The case was again remanded to the first-instance court for retrial.

On October 11, 2024, the Basic Court reclassified the criminal offense as “causing general danger” and sentenced Ahmeti and Vllasaliu to 16 years in prison each. However, the Court of Appeals again remanded the case for retrial.

In the third retrial, on October 20, 2025, the two defendants were again given aggregate sentences of 16 years in prison each. The Basic Court reclassified the offense from “aggravated murder” to “causing general danger” and sentenced each of them to 12 years in prison for that offense. For “unauthorized possession of weapons,” each received a sentence of four years and six months in prison.

This decision was also overturned by the Court of Appeals on April 17, 2026. Granting the appeal filed by the Basic Prosecution Office in Pristina, the Court of Appeals remanded the case to the first-instance court for retrial.

The indictment filed on July 13, 2021, states that on November 24, 2017, Agron Vllasaliu, acting on the basis of a prior agreement with defendant Arlind Ahmeti, took the life of N.S. and endangered the lives of Behar Sahiti, Lumbardh Kukaj, Freskim Farizi, R.K. and Mërgim Kqiku.

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