The Kosovo Court of Appeals, on Wednesday, announced that it rejected the Independent Media Commission, KPM, appeal against BIRN, deeming it unfounded after the broadcast of an award-winning investigation exposed the violation of anti-monopoly rules by Devolli Corporation in producing solar energy.

“The college [of Appeals] finds that based on evidence, [first instance court] has rightly ruled and has given enough and convincing justifications on decisive facts,” the verdict from June 5 says.

In August 2023, the Prishtina Basic Court annulled the 2020 decision of the Independent Media Commission which had issued a ‘warning’ to BIRN after the investigation broadcasted. KPM had appealed the ruling, which was eventually upheld as the Court of Appeals announced on July 17.

In April 2020, BIRN’s “Jeta në Kosovë” TV programme aired the investigation “Unclean Energy: The Kosovar Who Would Own the Sun ” on the public broadcaster, Radio Television of Kosovo, RTK. Following the broadcast, Blerim Devolli, the oligarch implicated in the investigation, complained that the show “had disseminated hate speech and violated the Code of Ethics.” 

The KPM sided with Blerim Devolli when he complained that the show’s report used “denigrating language and false information intended to tarnish his reputation”. Moreover, the management of RTK, public TV at the time, ran by Ngadhnjim Kastrati, Director General of RTK, also sided with Blerim Devolli completely kicking out not just “Jeta ne Kosove” program from RTK but the other BIRN programme “Drejtesia ne Kosove” led by Kreshnik Gashi.

In this investigation, BIRN journalists Visar Prebreza and Jeta Xharra uncovered a scheme involving Blerim Devolli’s shell companies, registered in Malta, which violated monopoly rules by concealing their true ownership. Devolli, using his Montenegrin citizenship, sought to benefit from Kosovo subsidies for solar energy production by taking advantage of incentive tariffs.

BIRN responded to Devolli’s complaint to the KPM, considering Devolli’s complaint and the KPM decision as a SLAPP process. 

Most of the points in Devolli’s complaint to the KPM were dismissed by the KPM Appeals Board. However, the KPM Appeals Commission ultimately decided that BIRN’s TV programme contained inaccurate reporting and denigrating language. KPM had issued a warning to the TV show “Jeta në Kosovë” after the broadcast of the investigation.

BIRN then filed a lawsuit at the Prishtina Basic Court, requesting the annulment of the decision of KPM arguing that no journalists’ Code of Ethics had been breached in this investigation.

In August 2023, the Basic Court of Prishtina had annulled KPM’s decision.  

This three-year legal battle concluded this week when the Court issued a ruling fully in favour of BIRN, stating that the KPM’s decision was unfounded and unfair.

Judge Anita Nikqi-Morina found that the TV programme fully complied with the Media Code of Ethics. This decision was confirmed on 17 of July 2024 by Delushe Halimi, the head of the judges body in the Appeals Court. 

After the investigation was aired in 2020, the State Aid Commission of Kosovo ordered the Energy Regulatory Office, ERO, to halt the scheme that allowed Blerim Devolli to benefit from subsidies with companies registered in Malta, deeming it illegal. 

The KPM’s reprimand was one of the reasons behind RTK’s management decision to stop airing the ‘Jeta në Kosovë’ TV programme, ending its 15-year run on RTK.

The show “Unclean Energy: The Kosovar Who Would Own the Sun” was awarded the first prize by the EU for the best investigative story in 2020.