The case against the two former Economic Crimes and Corruption investigators, Lutfi Mendjiqi and Dreem Osmani, has been considered today at the Court of Appeals, following sentences pronounced against them in the retrial.
Faithful Lawyer R. Berisha, Mexhiqi’s defender, has rejected the act of first degree, claiming violations and saying evidence is based on assumptions.
According to the defenders, Mendjiqi had created hostility because of his work in investigating economic crimes. Berisha has claimed that people who had failed to corrupt him had tried to push him away in various forms.
Those who couldn’t afford to buy it tried to take it away in different forms, Berisha said.
These defence claims were presented during the case review, which has arrived for the second time before the second-degree court.
Sentences in Retrial
The Constitutional Court in Pristina had sentenced Mendjiqi to five years in prison and four thousand euros in fines, while Osman was sentenced to six years in prison and four thousand euros in fines.
Both had also been given the ban on the exercise of office in public administration or public service for five years.
What are they accused of?
According to the indictment filed on June 30th 2020, Mendjiqi and Osmani are charged that, in the quality of police investigators, they had accepted bribes in exchange for failing to take action against the illegal activities of game of luck.
The two former investigators were arrested in February 2020, under suspicion of misuse of official duty and bribery.
Apel had canceled their first sentences
In the first trial, in February 2022, Mendqi was sentenced to five years and six months in prison, while Osmani was six years and six months, as well as four thousand euros in fines.
On May 3, 2023, Appeals had canceled that act, and the case had turned into retrial. After the retrial, sentences already opposed were pronounced against them.
Note: The people who are referred to in this article are represented innocent until their guilt is proved by court-cut decision.
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/Gazeta Sinjali/
Source Layer: Signal