Former KIA chief sentenced in retrial for "Gülenists" case

2026-02-24 12:18:08, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Basic Court in Pristina has found guilty in a retrial of the former head of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency (KIA), Driton Gashi, and sentenced him to four years and eight months in prison in the well-known "Gülenists" case, according to Betimit për Drejtësi, a specialized media outlet for reporting on the field of justice.

An additional sentence was also imposed on him - a ban on exercising public administration functions for four years, after the end of the prison sentence.

Gashi was sentenced to the same prison term, four years and eight months, in July 2023 for the illegal deportation of six Turkish citizens who had residence and work permits in Kosovo.

The decision in the retrial procedure was announced by the presiding judge, Violeta Namani-Hajra, and members Medie Bytyqi and Leon Përlaska.

Gashi was reported not to have been present at the hearing, but only his defense attorney, lawyer Driton Musliu, was.

The indictment filed by the Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo stated that Gashi abused his official position by failing to fulfill his duties according to his competence, recommending the revocation of residence permits and not granting one of them a permit, "on the grounds that they allegedly pose a threat to national security, a fact that has not been proven at all in a procedure implemented according to the law."

In the announcement of the decision in 2023, the former director of the Department for Citizenship, Asylum and Migration at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Valon Ramadani, and the former director of the Directorate for Migration and Foreigners within the Border Police, Rrahman Sylejmani, were acquitted of the charges.

The indictment was filed on March 29, 2018, following a large-scale operation by the Kosovo Police and the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, which resulted in the arrest of six Turkish citizens.

Their expulsion is said to have been carried out through a coordinated action between intelligence services from Turkey and Kosovo.

The arrest and deportation were preceded by the revocation of their residence permits, an action the court later ruled was unlawful.

Of the five Turkish citizens, three of them held permanent residence permits, namely Mustafa Erdem, Yusuf Karabina, Karhaman Demirez, while two of them, Hasan Hysein Demir and Cihan Ozkan, had temporary permits.

The families of six Turkish citizens filed a lawsuit against Kosovo institutions in 2018 for the arbitrary arrest and detention of their family members.

Some of the family members have sought asylum in Kosovo and others have fled to European countries.

Six Turkish citizens arrested in Kosovo and deported to Turkey in March 2018 were sentenced by courts there to a total of 56 years and 7 and a half months in prison.

Courts in Turkey sentenced most of them to 8 years in prison, while one, Mustafa Erdem, general director of the "Gulistan" institution in Kosovo, was sentenced to 15 years on June 5.

"Mehmet Akif" schools in Kosovo belong to the "Gulistan" Educational Institution.

"Gulistan" has kindergartens, preschool institutions, primary and secondary schools throughout Kosovo.

They are believed to be inspired by the Hizmet Movement of Turkish religious cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames for orchestrating the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.

Supporters of Gulen, who died in October 2024, are considered terrorists by Turkey, while the Hizmet Movement, which has millions of supporters, has been declared terrorist in Turkey./ REL