A Peje/Pec police station internal report, seen by BIRN, has revealed that over around one decade, from 2012 to 2023, police officers and management at the station had not processed over 380 potential criminal and civil violations as well as internal disciplinary cases.

The ongoing prosecution investigation has revealed that police officers and management systematically failed to forward cases to the Peje/Pec prosecutor’s office, effectively bypassing their legal obligations by keeping the files in station drawers instead. The statute of limitations for many of these cases expired as a result, preventing further prosecution and leaving alleged offenders free.

By February 2025, authorities had compiled a list of 197 criminal cases that were not submitted on time. They include a wide range of potential crimes, such as theft, minor bodily injury, fraud, harassment, assault, firearms offences, arson, illegal construction, customs evasion, threats, property damage, endangerment of public safety, counterfeiting and illegal gambling.

“Many of these [cases] were missing physical files, even though they were listed as open in the police system,” the report, seen by BIRN, reads.

The rest of the cases include 186 civil complaints, consisting also of internal disciplinary matters that were left unprocessed by the station leadership.

The report has not yet resulted in indictments or the arrest of those responsible. So far, the police officers suspected of being responsible for these actions have not been suspended or arrested.

The Kosovo Police Inspectorate, IPK, confirmed that it is aware of the allegations against Peje/Pec police station, but refused to provide any further information to BIRN “for the sake of preserving the integrity of the investigative process”.

The IPK said the neglected civil complaints and internal disciplinary cases were forwarded to the Directorate for Internal Investigations for handling, but “were not properly processed at the local level”.

The issue was revealed by chance in 2024, when the police station in Peje/Pec submitted a criminal report to the Peje/Pec Basic Prosecution. According to the report, seen by BIRN, prosecutor Dorian Juniku discovered that the case had already breached the statute of limitations because it was filed to the prosecution after the deadline.

In November 2024, Juniku then requested an investigation into the police station’s handling of other criminal cases. “The State Prosecutor requested that we evaluate whether any potential violations by police officials from the Peje Investigations Sector may have occurred,” the police report, obtained by BIRN, states.

The Peje/Pec Basic Prosecution told BIRN in a written response that “the case is currently undergoing investigative actions [in cooperation with the police inspectorate]. The responsible individuals have been identified, and initial suspicions consist of the criminal offence of Abuse of Official Position or Authority.”

Peje/Pec police station Commander Idriz Atashi reportedly discovered the files and forwarded them to the IPK for review, mentioning prolonged inaction by the station’s management.

In an official email, seen by BIRN, Atashi emphasised that these lapses “reflected a failure of the station’s leadership to ensure proper handling of cases”, adding that some issues were likely known to the management but were ignored.

“In addition to 186 local-level cases, citizens’ complaints and disciplinary measures were not addressed by the commanding staff of the Peja Police Station-cases [and] neither submitted to me nor declared until I personally discovered them,” Atashi wrote in his email attached to the report.

The report also contains explanations provided by police officials for why they did not forward certain cases to the prosecution. One officer reportedly stated that some of the case files had “been mixed up in his cabinet with his personal belongings,” which was why he did not forward the files of suspects who had potentially committed crimes to the prosecution. In another example, a police officer said some case files “were taken by another officer”.