The Basic Court in Prishtina on Friday dismissed Kosovo businessman’s Blerim Devolli’s defamation lawsuit against BIRN Kosovo director Jeta Xharra and public broadcaster Radio Television of Kosovo over the award-winning investigation, “Unclean energy: The Kosovar Who Would Own the Sun”.

The court considered the lawsuit withdrawn after Devolli and his lawyers failed to attend the hearing despite being summoned.

Devolli filed the lawsuit in 2020 against Xharra and public broadcaster RTK over the investigative programme produced by Xharra and journalist Visar Prebreza.

The investigation revealed a scheme in which shell companies owned by Devolli and registered in Malta would have benefited from incentive tariffs for the production of energy from the sun, breaking monopoly rules by hiding the real owner of the companies.

In connection with the 2020 programme, Devolli sued Xharra in a civil court for defamation and insult, alleging that the investigative reporting used denigrating language and reported false information that tended to denigrate Devolli.

Three weeks after the programme was aired, BIRN’s show was removed completely from RTK.

Civil society activists criticised the law case as a typical SLAPP lawsuit – a legal action intended to intimidate journalists and discourage investigative reporting.

The ruling marks the latest legal victory for BIRN and Xharra in proceedings connected to the 2020 investigation. Earlier, courts overturned a decision by Kosovo’s Independent Media Commission, IMC, which had found the programme used denigrating language.

“Unclean energy: The Kosovar Who Would Own the Sun” was awarded first prize by the EU for best investigative story in Kosovo in 2020. It also received the Ibrahim Rexhepi prize for the best  2020 economic investigation from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Kosovo, OSCE, and the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, AJK.