“Justice Revenge” suspects found not guilty after 21 years

Since every single Appeal Judge had already been consumed with this case, the judge panel led by the High Council of Justice, presided by Judge Alaudin Malaj, found the 10 suspects not guilty.

Except for Dritan Hata and Gentian Caka, both already in prison, the others suspects, including Altin arapi and Orik Shyti, followed the process during these 20 years as political asylum seekers outside Albania.

While the legal arguments for this decision have not been published yet, Top Channel learned that the five judges were based on the Supreme Court verdict, which considered the evidence as manipulated.

The evidence included house searches, testimony declarations and documents seized by the police 21 years ago, when the average age of the suspects was 25.

The Supreme Court ruled that the document showing the platform of the Justice Revenge group was falsified, which meant that the organization had never really existed.

The main argument to support this was a verification made by calligraphy experts, who said Altin Arapi’s handwriting was forged, and the platform was not written by him.

The 10 suspects were tried for serious crimes that took place between 1994 and 1996, starting with the murder of the former Prison Director General, Bujar Kaloshi; armed robberies of former pyramid scheme companies “Gjallica” and “Vefa”, and for taking a hostage in Vlora.

The court found as not guilty: Orik Shyti, Altin Arapi, Gentian Caka, Nikolin Novruzaj, Roland Shyti, Leart Shyti, Kreshnik Spahiu, Pasho Novruzaj, Gëzim Gjoni and Dritan Hate.

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