Among questions discussed were: Why was Shkelzen Pruthi excluded from his inheritance? How could his siblings exclude him from the legacy in a process that was held in Municipality Court of Prishtina, in Graqanica’s branch? How could three members of the family give a false declaration? What kind of offense did they commit in this case? Why was the Judicial Council unaware of the article 135 of the law of non-disputable procedure?
Shkelzen Pruthi, currently living in the U.S., was excluded from his inheritance in 2010 because of his siblings’ false declarations. Shkelzen, from Prishtina, is the eldest son of Faik Pruthi who was originally from Gjakova. Faik Pruthi died in 1981. In addition, Shkelzen Pruthi was not included in the transaction when his siblings sold their father’s house, located in Sunny Hill, Prishtina, for 250,000 Euros. The son of Shkelzen Maliqi, Edmond Maliqi raised penal charges against his uncles and aunt for excluding him from his inheritance.
Moreover, BIRN’s research shows that there were many irregularities that resulted in excluding Shkelzen Pruthi from his inheritance. Edmond Pruthi says: “The inherited house was sold from my uncles and aunt and they excluded me from the inheritance.” The judge reviewing this case, Nenad Laziq, was not aware that Faik Pruthi had four inheritors. According to Laziq, based on the article 135 of the law of undisputed procedure, the court has drafted the death act based on the declaration of the three inheritors. “Before they declared that they are the only inheritors, I warned them that if they do not tell the truth, they will be accused of breaching the law” says Laziq.
Enver Peci, Head of the Kosovo Judicial Council, says that he was unaware of this legal possibility and he promises that the Council will ask for a legal stance, which requires the death act to be released by the registrar officials, thus this procedure will avoid any irregularities regarding inheritance.
Even though Blerim Pruthi, Fitore Pruthi and Gazmend Pruthi have sold the house to a third party, Shkelqen Pruthi has already started the procedure of cancelling the transaction contract. He believes that his father’s inheritance will be returned to his family and will be divided equally. This procedure was started in the Basic Court of Prishtina and is being reviewed by Judge Zenel Leku.