Press Communication of Chief State Prosecutor, who at the same time is President of Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, related to the arrest of the Prosecutor, Nazmi Mustafi
Prishtina 3rd of April 2012
Through this communication I express my deep indignation related to the fact that a Prosecutor of a Prosecutorial system who at the same time did hold the post of the Chair of Anti-Corruption Task Force, (a Task Force functioning under the Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo), has fallen in contradiction with the law and he is being suspected to have committed criminal offense, for fighting of which offenses he was in the key post in the Prosecutorial System.
Undoubtedly this is a ‘slap in the face’ for prosecutorial system of the Republic of Kosovo, but at the same time I am certain that for this system this ‘slap’ would have been more severe one if the investigations for this case would have not been taken seriously and with full dedication from the moment when we have received the first information.
I inform the general public that upon my request the investigation of the case was initiated by a local Prosecutor of District Prosecution in Peja, based on received information from Police of Republic of Kosovo.
After the investigations have resulted with information that in this case the suspect is a Prosecutor, we have agreed with EULEX Chief Prosecutor to have these investigations carried on from EULEX Prosecutors in Peja District Prosecution. In this case we have submitted to EULEX all investigation results we have achieved to obtain until that moment.
Continuation of the investigations was finalized with providing additional evidences which have proven the based suspicion and brought the arrest of the mentioned Prosecutor.
State Prosecutor with the investigation of this case shows his uncompromised decisiveness and dedication for fight against corruption at all levels, including the one from Prosecutors and employees in Prosecutorial system.
I have information that there are other cases of the same nature, with the same Prosecutor involved, thus I publicly invite all of them who have information and evidences related to this case to help us and present these information to Chief State Prosecutor, to the Prosecutor in charge of this case who works in District Prosecution Office in Peja or in Kosovo Police.
Ones again I invite all citizens, the general public and civil society to cooperate more with State Prosecutor and help him in the fight against abusers of official duty and against all of them who violate the Law. This invitation at the same time is a call of State Prosecutor. State Prosecutor will welcome and appreciate each contribution given by your side in this direction.
Through this statement I use the opportunity to commend Police for their professional work during the investigation of this case and also EULEX Chief Prosecutor and Prosecutor in charge of this case, who have done an excellent job.
At the same time I also thank the journalist, Selvije Bajrami, who works for the daily newspaper “Zëri”, for her cooperation who did not publish the information she had for this case (the information that were provided to her by her sources) and by this she has contributed to not impede the investigation against the named Prosecutor and his arrest.
The successful completion of an investigation for sure is more important than published news before time, which would impede the investigations and successful completion of the case.
I also inform you that based on the legislation into force I have requested from the Judicial and Prosecutorial Inspectorate and Disciplinary Commission of Kosovo Prosecutorial Council to immediately initiate the disciplinary procedures against Prosecutor, Nazmi Mustafi, and give absolute priority to this case because actions of the Prosecutor present at the same time breach of Prosecutors` Ethic Code and this may put in doubt the integrity of Prosecutorial system of our country.
At the end I assure citizens of Republic of Kosovo that State Prosecutor will not have any compromise towards anyone that commits criminal offense and abuses the authority and post they are assigned to.
Ismet Kabashi
Chief State Prosecutor, at the same time President of Kosovo Prosecutorial Council