The hearings originally scheduled for 14 and 15 November in the trial of Sabit Januzi, Ismet Bahtijari, and Haxhi Shala will no longer take place, following a request by the parties in the case.
More information will be provided as soon as it is available.
The accused are charged with obstructing official persons in performing official duties and intimidation during criminal proceedings. Specifically, the indictment alleges that between 5 April 2023 and 12 April 2023, Mr. Januzi and Mr. Bahtijari, at Mr. Shala’s direction, met separately with a witness on two occasions to induce him to withdraw evidence or refrain from providing evidence in official proceedings before the KSC, including by use of serious threat and the promise of a gift or other form of benefit.
Case History
Sabit Januzi and Ismet Bahtijari were arrested in Kosovo on 5 October 2023 and transferred to the KSC Detention Unit on 6 October 2023. At the initial appearance on 9 October 2023, both Mr. Januzi and Mr. Bahtijari pleaded not guilty to all charges in the indictment.
Haxhi Shala was arrested in Kosovo on 11 December 2023 and transferred to the KSC Detention Unit on 12 December 2023. At the initial appearance on 13 December 2023, Shala did not enter a plea. He pleaded not guilty to all charges at the further appearance on 15 December 2023.
On 13 December 2023, the SPO filed a request to join the cases against Mr. Januzi and Mr. Bahtijari with the case against Mr. Shala. On 8 February 2024, the Pre-Trial Judge granted the SPO request for the joinder of these two cases.
Having amended one of the charges for Mr Januzi and Mr Bahtijari on 8 July 2024, the further appearances of Mr. Januzi and Mr. Bahtijari took place on 12 July 2024, during which both accused pleaded not guilty to the new charge against them in the amended joint indictment.
The SPO filed its pre-trial brief on 16 February 2024, and the latest versions of all three Defence teams’ pre-trial briefs were filed on 2 September 2024. Public redacted versions are available for the SPO, Shala and Bahtijari pre-trial briefs.
For more information, please visit the KSC website https://www.scp-ks.org/en and the case page.
