The former EULEX prosecutor in Kosovo, Maria Bamieh, after today's conference where she spoke about the suspicions of corruption that she had signaled in this mission, has been invited for an interview by the Basic Prosecutor's Office in Pristina.

She announced the news herself, through a post on Facebook.

Meanwhile, after the interest of the media, the Prosecutor's Office stated that Bamieh was invited for an interview because it was impossible to secure her statement in the past years.

Related to this, Ehat Miftaraj from the Kosovo Institute for Justice (IKD), says that the Prosecutor's Office had to inform the public in order to avoid prejudices.

"Likewise, a prosecutor who is governed by sound principles when handing over the invitation would have to inform the public in the right way to avoid prejudices regarding this case", Miftaraj declared in a statement for Telegrafin.

According to him, based on the fact that prosecutor Bamieh is a whistleblower, the Prosecutor's Office should be more careful in relation to the same.

Former EULEX prosecutor in Kosovo, Maria Bamieh

"This is to preserve her rights in relation to her status as a whistleblower in the exposure of corrupt affairs in EULEX at that time when she had exclusive powers in the areas of fighting organized crime and high-level corruption in Kosovo".

At today's conference held in Pristina, former prosecutor Bamieh showed how she had discovered suspicions of corruption in the case of Ilir Tolaj, the former secretary of the Ministry of Health.

She told how she had learned from the wiretapping that the EULEX judge, Francesco Florit, met with Tolaj's mediators, when he was in prison, to eliminate the case in exchange for a payment.

But, after the investigations carried out by the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of Kosovo, it turned out that the former EULEX judge, Francesco Florit, had not committed any crime while performing his duties.

Related to this, Miftaraj raised doubts about the influence of the process, as Gabriele Meucci, head of the EULEX mission at the time when the case against Bamieh was initiated, had close encounters with Aleksandër Lumezi, the Chief State Prosecutor at that time.

"The case in question against prosecutor Bamieh was initiated sometime in 2015, at the time when the head of the EULEX Mission was Gabriele Meucci, one of the most controversial figures of this mission since its formation until today, who had close relations with Aleksandër Lumezin", Miftaraj declared.

"Likewise, the initiation of this case was started by the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor, immediately after Aleksandër Lumezi took the position of Chief State Prosecutor.

We are talking about a time when information about corrupt affairs within this mission had come to the public, where the suspicions were that high-ranking prosecutors, judges and other high officials within the EULEX mission were involved."

As a result of these doubts, Miftaraj said that this mission was also the target of investigations by auditors of the European Union.

"The years 2014 and 2015 are dark years for the EULEX mission, where this mission had left its role, and was included in an unprincipled manner in important processes of that time that were developed in the prosecutorial system of Kosovo, where the role the main one was undoubtedly Meucci," he asserted.

However, Miftaraj adds that today's invitation by the Prosecutor's Office is only an action of an investigative procedure initiated in 2015, and "which has been suspended to prevent the expiration of the investigation period as defined by the Code of Criminal Procedure, based on that prosecutor Bamieh lives outside the Republic of Kosovo".

Otherwise, the EULEX office also reacted to the accusations of the former prosecutor Bamieh, saying that she repeated unfounded accusations, rumors and backbiting.

"At today's press conference, we have heard Maria Bamieh repeat baseless accusations, rumors and slander.

Bamieh did not even present a new piece of evidence," they said in their response.

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