The Supreme Court on Thursday acquitted Naser Pajazitaj, who was earlier convicted of murdering Donjeta Pajazitaj with two bullets to the head in the mountains west of the village of Strellc near Decan in November 2015, citing a lack of evidence.

The ruling was confirmed to BIRN by the spokesperson of the Supreme Court, Antigona Uka. “The criminal panel of the Supreme Court, at the session held on April 6, 2023, acquitted N.P. of the charge of murder. After compiling the judgment within the legal deadline, the same will be made public,” Uka stated.

The 2017 indictment of the Kosovo Prosecutor’s Office stated that Pajazitaj covered the deceased’s body with wood after killing her and fled the scene. Her body was found on December 17, 2015.

Gëzim Kollqaku, the lawyer for Pajazitaj, said his client was released due to the lack of evidence and because of violations committed during the court procedure.

Kollqaku told BIRN Pajazitaj called his brother from prison and told him to take him because the lawyer’s request for his release from detention was approved.

But the Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, on Thursday called the Supreme Court’s decision “unacceptable”.

At the session of the Assembly of Kosovo, Haxhiu said this is why government reforms are necessary.

“For me it is unacceptable that a person sentenced to life imprisonment is so easily acquitted. That is why the reforms that we have started as the Ministry of Justice and as the Government of Kosovo are important,” she stated.

Besarta Breznica, from Kosovo Women’s Network, also expressed concern regarding the announcement.

“We are concerned by this announcement, but since we have not yet received a decision from the Supreme Court, we do not have all the information on the release from the indictment and from detention, and remain hopeful that investigations into the case of Donjeta Pajazitaj will continue,” Breznica told BIRN.

According to the indictment of 2017, while Donjeta Pajazitaj was going to work, the accused stopped his car and took Donjeta to the place “Kroi i Lajthise”, where he killed her.

He was initially released by the Basic Court in Peja in 2018 due to lack of evidence. But, after this decision was returned for a retrial by the Court of Appeal, Pajazitaj was sentenced to life imprisonment.

In November 2019, the Supreme Court opposed both decisions of the Basic Court of Peja. The Court of Peja was then excluded from the case and it was delegated to the Court of Ferizaj.

On May 27, 2021, the Basic Court in Ferizaj sentenced Pajazitaj to life imprisonment for aggravated murder, but the Court of Appeal on October 30, 2021 returned this case to retrial.

On June 23, 2022, the Basic Court in Ferizaj again sentenced Pajazitaj to life imprisonment, while on November 11, 2022, the appeal court reduced the sentence from life imprisonment to 35 years in prison.

Reported domestic violence cases in Kosovo have increased in recent years. Police reported about 1,914 cases in 2019, but the number rose to 2,069 in 2020. In 2021, 2,456 cases of domestic violence were recorded while in 2022 the number increased to 2,793.