The Special Prosecution in Kosovo has charged three officials for the deportation of six Turkish teachers in March 2018.
Kosovo-based news portal Kallxo reports that charges of “abuse of office” and “unlawful deprivation of liberty” were filed against the former head of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency (AKI), Driton Gashi; the director of the Department for Citizenship Asylum and Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Valon Krasniqi; and the director of Migration and Foreigners of the Border Police in Kosovo, Rrahman Sylejmani.
The charges relate the illegal deportation of the six teachers, it was reported, who were later sentenced to 56 years in prison by a Turkish court on charges of terrorism. Turkey has classified the Gulen movement as a terrorist organization for staging the 2015 failed coup that led to hundreds killed.
A Kosovo parliamentary committee investigating the arrest and deportation in 2019, found 31 violations by the Kosovo secret service and police. It concluded that the whole secret operation was illegal and unconstitutional.
Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj was not informed of the secret operation arranged between the Kosovo and Turkish secret services. He immediately fired Driton Gashi, the chief of secret services, right after the operation.
Read more: Kosovo Minister Asks for Gulen Movement, Kurdish Parties to Be Designated Terrorist Organizations
