The Prishtina Basic Court on Monday accepted a plea deal that the prosecution reached with Besart Ramabaja, Arian Tahiraj and Veton Alshiqi, members and followers of the Telegram group “AlbKings”, giving them the minimum sentence of only 2,000 to 2,500 euros each in fines for the repeated harassment of a BIRN journalist.

Judge Fisnik Gashi told the court that the plea deal was accepted despite a call by 60 civil society organisations and around 150 media outlets for the court to not accept such a deal. The Kosovo Criminal Code stipulates a maximum sentence of three years’ imprisonment for the offence.

Less than three hours after the publication of the journalist’s investigation into gender-based violence, Ramabaja had shared her phone number in the AlbKings group with the caption, “Call her for an interview!” That action motivated dozens of members and followers of the group, including the other two accused, to launch a campaign of harassment against her.

The situation was repeated several times, as her number was shared again with other messages, motivating more harassment.

After BIRN reported the case to the police, the three accused were arrested.

Hundreds of girls and women, including the BIRN journalist, were victims of harassment and the unauthorized sharing of personal data, as well as non-consensual distribution of pornography, including intimate photos and videos and deepfakes, by the AlbKings group on Telegram, which at its peak had 120,000 members.

On September 18, the Prishtina Basic Prosecution submitted a plea deal to the Basic Court under which the accused would pay fines of 2,000-2,500 euros for the charge of harassment of a BIRN journalist, whose identity is being withheld for safety reasons. One of the accused had pleaded guilty in court and the other two did so after reaching the deal with the prosecution.

The civil society organisations and the media outlets in an open letter on Friday stated that “the three individuals accused of harassing a journalist and numerous other girls on the Telegram network… are expected to only receive a fine of 2,500 euros each, following an unprecedented agreement reached between the harassers and the Prishtina Prosecution, represented by prosecutor Elza Bajrami-Kastrati and confirmed by Prishtina Chief Prosecutor Zejnullah Gashi”.

The organisations wrote that the plea deal “fails to reflect the gravity of the crimes and further victimises the women involved, including three journalists” and condemned it as a form of amnesty for the perpetrators, which fails to recognise the impact of cyber-harassment on women in public life.

The BIRN journalist was not consulted or informed about the plea deal, despite legal provisions requiring victim participation in the process.

Moreover, the indictment filed by Prosecutor Bajrami-Kastrati also does not address the defendants’ motives or specify that one of the defendants had admitted to sharing the journalist’s phone number in the AlbKings group.

Only pages 10 and 11 of the 14-page indictment mentioned that am examination of the defendants’ phones by the police uncovered hundreds of pornographic videos and photos as well as phone numbers and private messages that the defendants had written to girls and women targeted by the group. Over 100,000 members of the AlbKings group had unauthorised access to this content.

The civil society organisations wrote that “it is deeply concerning that the court’s decision comes at a time when the journalist and her legal counsel have requested that the case be handled through a public trial, where evidence would be presented to demonstrate that the perpetrators had organised their efforts with the intention of intimidating women who are part of public life.

“The Prosecution treated the harassment of a journalist as a routine matter, with no consequences for the public interest,” the statement reads, adding that “such lenient punishment for the harassers of women journalists and the followers of pornographic platforms once again reveals the patriarchal mindset of the system and the prosecutors’ willingness to turn a blind eye to violence against women.

“The prosecution has accepted an extraordinarily lenient sentence that fails to meet legal or ethical standards, especially considering the nature of the crime,” the statement reads.

In March, the Prishtina Basic Court sentenced the founder and administrator of the AlbKings Telegram group to prison for identity theft and blackmail.

In May 2024, seven people were arrested after BIRN and other organisations reported that private data of women and girls, including the phone numbers of female journalists from BIRN and local broadcaster Klan Kosova, had been shared without authorisation in the group.

BIRN will appeal the verdict.