Kosovo’s Supreme Court on Wednesday annulled the controversial decision of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council to dismiss Besim Kelmendi as Acting State Chief Prosecutor, ruling the move unlawful.

The court said it had returned the case to the Prosecutorial Council for reconsideration. “The Supreme Court has upheld as well-founded the appeal filed by Besim Kelmendi, Acting State Chief Prosecutor, and has annulled the decision of November 20, 2025 as unlawful,” the court’s statement read.

Kelmendi was dismissed last month after media reports alleged that in 1999 he had cooperated with a Serbian judge regarding a probe into the January 1999 Recak/Racak massacre by Serbian forces, which the Serbian judge had described as a “fabricated event”. Forty-five Albanian civilians were killed in the massacre, deemed a crime against humanity by international observers at the time.

Kelmendi denied the allegations. “I was not a judge, prosecutor, or investigator before 2000, when I was appointed a judge at the District Court in Prishtina,” he said on November 19.

After the Basic Court rejected Kelmendi’s request for an interim suspension of the KPC’s decision, he appealed to the Supreme Court. This then ruled that the Prosecutorial Council’s decision was “unlawful, arbitrary, and unfounded.”

It also said the decision was “internally contradictory” and adopted through a procedure “not supported by law”.  It added that the Prosecutorial Council had incorrectly relied on the Law on General Administrative Procedure when addressing quorum requirements.

“The Council must secure a quorum of at least six members. Given that the Council legally consists of 11 members, or even if considered to have 10 members, a minimum of six members is required to open a session, hold a meeting, or make decisions,” it said.

“As a result, with only five members present, the Council could not exercise any function, let alone proceed with decision-making or the dismissal of the Acting State Chief Prosecutor,” it clarified.

The dismissal drew strong criticism from the EU and US. The US embassy in Prishtina called for respect for the law and proper legal procedures. The European Union Office said Kelmendi’s dismissal undermined necessary reforms within the Prosecutorial Council, disregarded the rule of law, and weakened Kosovo’s progress toward European integration.