Kosovo Intelligence Agency

The pre-trial judge at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, Nicolas Guillou, decided on Thursday that Hashim Thaci and Kadri Veseli should remain in detention ahead of their trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 1998-99 conflict in Kosovo.

Kosovo's Special Prosecution has confirmed to BIRN that an indictment has been filed against three individuals in connection with the highly controversial deportation of six Turkish nationals to Turkey on March 29, 2018.

Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, in coordination with acting Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, on Thursday dismissed the chief of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, KIA, Kreshnik Gashi, allegedly for trying to obtain confidential documents from the President's office.

Two Turkish citizens controversially deported from Kosovo to Turkey last year have received heavy jail sentences in their home country.

On Wednesday, the Istanbul serious crimes court imprisoned Osman Karakaya and Cihan Ozkan for seven years and six months each for "participating in an armed terrorist organisation". It acquitted the two men of charges of "international espionage".

Opposition MPs in Kosovo say the ongoing investigation into the controversial deportation of Turkish nationals last year to Turkey should not stop at low-ranking police officers and must be extended to include senior police and state officials

Photo: EPA/ ERDEM SAHIN

Turkish news agency Anadolu reported on Wednesday that the prosecution is demanding sentences ranging from 16 years and six months to 28 years and six months for the six.

The six Turks have been held in detention in a Turkish prison for a year since their controversial deportation.

Photo: AP/Beta.

The report is based on the statements of officials involved in the controversial operation to deport six Turkish nationals wanted for alleged links to what Ankara claims is a 'terrorist movement' led by the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen.

It reveals how the Kosovo authorities sent the wrong man to Turkey, despite having "full knowledge" of the mistake.

The parliamentary commission probing the highly controversial deportation of the six alleged Gulenists to Turkey in March last year said on Tuesday that it is sending a file to the prosecutor's office in Pristina detailing 31 breaches of laws and procedures.

The deputy chief prosecutor at the Pristina Basic Prosecution, Ibrahim Berisha, told BIRN that one person was killed in a shooting incident inside the Kosovo Intelligence Agency building on Tuesday morning.

"The victim died because of the wounds. The prosecutor now will be at the scene and we can give details later," Berisha said.

The Pristina Basic Court has jailed eight Kosovo citizens who were found guilty of planning to carry out attacks in Albania against the Israeli national football team; four imams were acquitted in a separate court case on terrorism.