Xhabir Zharku ran for mayor of Kaqanik in the years 2007- 2009 and in both elections he was elected as the mayor of Kaqanik. After the second election his position was in risk because he was being prosecuted for violations of law. Zharku violated the law prior to being elected as mayor of the municipality of Kaqanik. He was being investigated for the privatization of a social enterprise. After the tender was released the person that privatized the company was threatened by Xhabir Zharku to sell it to another person.
Moreover, on November 4, 2008, an international judge opened charges and Xhabir Zharku was one of the accused individuals. The police was required to raid his house and there were many weapons found. The main reason of his arrest was the threatening that he did to the individuals that bought the social enterprise.
Mr. Avni Bytyqi, from the INPO (non-governmental organization), says: “We have mentioned earlier that a person that is being investigated should not be part of an election campaign or run for any position because this questions the democracy system. The Central Election Commission and the PDK should not have left him run for that position”
In addition, according to Xhabir Zharku, “this accusation is a spectacle and is not based on facts. Genc Nimoni, from BIRN, says that “Mr. Zharku and the others were declared innocent, but the judge declared him guilty. Despite the sentence, Mr. Zharku continued his job as the mayor of Kaqanik”.
Xhabir Zharku constantly sent requests to the District Court to postpone the sentence, thus he was left free until the judges decided that no request will be accepted anymore. Mr. Zharku left the country and the police could not arrest him. Xhevdet Shala, the lawyer of Xhabir Zharku says: “The reasons for postponing the sentence were the constant complaints that we sent to the District Court. We sent complaints because they did not take into consideration the evidences that we had.”
Avni Bytyqi says: “The attitude of Xhabir Zharku is a good model to see how the people in power treat the judicial system that they have created.”