Enver Sekiraqa, the alleged leader of the Sekiraqa group, notorious in Prishtina and across Kosovo for its gang activities, has been sentenced to 37 years imprisonment for inciting the murder of Triumf Riza, a Kosovo Police officer.

Arben Berisha, who was sentenced with 35 years in prison in 2010, murdered Riza in Prishtina on August 30, 2007.  After Riza’s murder, Sekiraqa claimed that “he feared for his own life” and became a fugitive for several years, until he finally surrendered to the police.

In court, prosecutor Andrew Carney accused Sekiraqa of having ordered Riza’s murder and claimed that Berisha was just “the one who pulled the trigger.”  Sekiraqa’s sentence is the highest sentence ever handed down by a Kosovo court.

After the sentence was given, Carney sat down to talk about the success of a highly publicized trial, which included celebrity witnesses and even allegations of war crimes from the defendant’s side.

“This was a pure murder trial, based on facts, ” said Carney in an interview with BIRN. “This trial was based entirely on facts and not speculations or gossip or other things that Mr Sekiraqa has said.”

Sekiraqa, who was deposed by other prosecutors after surrendering himself to police, has repeatedly claimed that the case against him was politically motivated and that the police had fabricated evidence. He also claimed that he had information about war crimes cases.

“Everything that Mr Sekiraqa says we listen to and we review, and if there is material that we should be disclosing to the defence we do so. And we’ve completely complied with our duty. Sekiraqa made many claims,” said Carney, adding that the trial was founded on hard evidence and witness testimonies.

“There was a wealth of evidence in this case that came from various quarters. We didn’t just have witness testimony, which was in fact very helpful to the prosecution case,” explains Carney. “This case was made up of telecommunication messages, SMSes, triangulation data, financial data, previous incidents such as Swiss Casino and the Ferizaj case.”

According to the indictment, several incidents provided the motives that sparked the conflict between Riza and Sekiraqa, including jealousy over Sekiraqa’s former girlfriend, the turbo-folk singer Adelina Ismajli. The first incident occurred in 2000 or 2001, when Riza stopped a car being driven by Sekiraqa during a regular patrol with UNMIK police officers.

According to witnesses, Sekiraqa, who was carrying a hand grenade, threatened Riza.

Another major incident occurred in Prishtina’s Swiss Casino between Sekiraqa and his group on one side and Riza and his friends on the other. The conflict ended with shots fired and several wounded on both sides.

Photographic evidence were also used to prove the connection between Sekiraqa and Berisha, who according to the prosecution was a member of the Sekiraqa group and wasn’t well-off financially.

The prosecution showed that in the few years following Riza’s murder, Berisha’s family built an expensive villa, and that the money needed to build it could not be justified by his relatives, claiming that this was evidence that Sekiraqa rewarded Berisha for the murder.

The connection between Sekiraqa and Berisha, who was the assassin, was the key element in Carney’s case. The defence continuously claimed that Sekiraqa did not know Berisha, and had no ties to him. However, the prosecution produced as evidence several pictures and videos showing Sekiraqa and Berisha together.

“The prosecution has proved through telecommunication evidence and financial evidence of payments that Enver Sekiraqa incited Arben Berisha to carry that murder. Arben Berisha had no particular grudge against Triumf Riza, as far as the evidence showed,” explained Carney.

“It was Enver Sekiraqa who had numerous reasons to hate Triumf Riza, going back many years,” continued Carney. “Triumf suffered a long period of harassment and intimidation at the hands of Enver Sekiraqa.”

Carney says that the verdict proves that Sekiraqa is a violent person. “The trial panel has found that he effectively organized and ordered that murder.”

Carney had only praise for Riza, and regretted that he didn’t have the chance to meet him.

“He was a dedicated officer, dedicated to his duty, who is dedicated to trying to rid the streets of Prishtina and Kosovo in general of crime. I’ll remember the tragedy of the case,” concluded Carney.