The Intimidation Judge in Drenas

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On February 3, 2013, “Justice in Kosovo” discussed the intimidation of judges in Drenas.

Among the questions discussed were: Why did Zejnepe Buzhala claim that police officer Fadil Shishani occupied her apartment? How is it possible that after twelve years the Buzhala family came back to the apartment that Fadil Shishani occupied? Why did the court support this family to return to this apartment and why is the judge on this case intimidated by Shishani? How was the police officer accused? What does Fadil Shishani say about this accusation?  

Judge Skender Zariqi claims that he felt threatened the day Shishani was removed from the apartment. The situation began in 1999 when Shishani occupied the apartment where Buzhala once lived. Buzhala claimed that she was required to leave the apartment during the war. The apartment was given to her for an indefinite amount of time and she has all the proper documentation, which was released by the Center for Preschool Education.

“When we came back from England, in 2001, it was impossible to settle in our apartment because there we found Shishani’s family”, said Buzhala. She made an agreement with Shishani to let them stay in her apartment because they did not have anywhere to go, and they signed a contract. Shishani does that they occupied Buzhala’s apartment because they had no place to stay after the war. According to him, they did not know who the owner of the apartment was and he also confirmed that he signed a contract. Two years later Mr. Shishani went to the municipality to ask for the apartment and found out that the apartment does not belong to Buzhala.

To resolve this issue Buzhala was addressed to the court. The court decided that Shishani family should leave the apartment because their evidence was not taken into consideration. The decision was going to be implemented on September 3, 2012, but the implementation was impossible because Shishani threatened the parties in the court. “Shishani said on the day that the decision was implemented, the Buzhala family and Ibrahim Dobruna, the lawyer of the family, will suffer the consequences,” said Buzhala.  The intimidation was taken into consideration especially since Shishani is a police officer.

In addition, Shishani was charged for intimidating the Kosovo Police Inspectorate. On the other hand, Shishani denies that he intimidated the judge or the parties of the court.

The decision was implemented on September 12, 2012, and the Buzhala family returned to the apartment for only five days. After five days, the apartment was taken from the municipality of Drenas claiming that the apartment belongs to the municipality.