The Special Appeals Chamber (KPA) dismissed Prosecutor Gentian Osmani, who is also member of the High Prosecutorial Council (KLP). The KPA panel chaired by Natasha Mulaj decided that Prosecutor Osmani was unable to justify his wealth.
The vetting commission confirmed Prosecutor Osmani in August 2018. Three months later, the Public Commissioner filed an appeal following the International Monitoring Operation’s (ONM) recommendation to request his dismissal.
Public Commissioner Dariel Sina found that Osmani’s income did not justify the purchase of a 96-square-meter apartment in Tirana in 2017. Also, his expenditures during 2011–2013 exceeded his income.
Days before the verdict, former opposition MP Ervin Salianji submitted a wiretap to the KPA, in which Prosecutor Osmani was heard speaking with Alfred Alizoti, an allegedly fraudulent witness produced by the ruling Socialist Party to save Agron Xhafaj, brother of the then-Minister of Interior Fatmir Xhafaj, whom the opposition accused of, and an audio-tape allegedly evidenced his involvement in international drug trafficking. Salianji claimed that Prosecutor Osmani should be dismissed on the grounds of his links to criminals.
Gentian Osmani was one of the prosecutors who investigated the cases of former Minister of Interior Saimir Tahiri (click here and here) and Agron (Geron) Xhafaj’s wiretap.
Osmani’s dismissal leaves the KLP with 10 members out of 11. “Temporary” General Prosecutor Arta Marku should call a meeting of prosecutors to elect a new KLP member.
