Few hours before the execution of Qerim Kelmendi, in Zahaq, near Peja, his nephew, Alban Dizdari, was interviewed for murdering of Smajl Hajdaraj, at the Basic Prosecution in Peja. Kelmendi was cited several times by various witnesses as implicated in the January 2002 killing of former LDK deputy.

Qerim Kelmendi’s nephew, Alban Dizdari, who is charged, together with Bedri Krasniqi and others, for killing of UNMIK officials in 2004, was interviewed this Wednesday at the Basic Prosecution in Peja.

The news portal Reporteri.net wrote that the state prosecutor had interviewed Dizdari as a witness of the murder of former deputy of the LDK, Smajl Hajdaraj.

Few hours after this interview, on Thursday, at around 01:30 a.m. police found a burning car in the village of Zahac, near Peja. Inside the car police found a lifeless, carbonated body, which was previously shot several times.

The dead body was of Alban Dizdar’s uncle, Qerim Kelmendi, whose name, according to the Reporter.net was mentioned during yesterday’s interview on the murder of Smajl Hajdaraj. Although Dizdari, as reported by Reporteri.net sources within the security authorities, was not cooperative during the interview with the State Prosecutor’s Office in Peja.

The killing of Hajdaraj was committed on 17 January 2002. He was shot at the entrance of his apartment in Peja.

16 years after his assassination, Shkumbin Mehmeti – a 30-year-old man convicted for killing of the UNMIK officials, as well as for the case of Alban Dizdari is being charged now,  had accused former KLA member, Qerim Kelmendi, and his brother, Ibrahim Kelmendin – a former member of the People’s Movement of Kosovo (LPK), for being involved in that killing.

Mehmeti, who is now a protected witness of the Special Prosecution, made those allegations in a televised interview for Klan Kosova, in the beginning of 2018, although his allegations were ridiculed by Qerim Kelmendi. The later had qualified his accusation as “a telenovela.”

Kelmendi, who is killed today, was never interviewed by the prosecution about the murder he was publicly charged with, although sources of the Reporteri.net confirm that Qerim Kelmendi, besides Shkumbin Mehmeti and other persons who were interviewed by the Kosovo authorities, underlined that Kelmendi was its main instigator.

Meanwhile, according to the victim’s brother, Ibrahim Kelmendi, last night’s killing was carried out by Serbia’s ‘extended hand’.

The Kosovo President, Hashim Thaçi, has also reacted upon this execution, appealing for the case to be cleared as soon as possible. Former Prime Minister Haradinaj has also reacted.

The Kosovo’s security authorities and prosecution are investigating the case.