Zejnulla Gashi was appointed Chief State Prosecutor on Tuesday, after Acting President Albulena Haxhiu signed the decree appointing him to the position of the highest leader of the prosecutorial system in the country.
Gashi's appointment comes after Kosovo had been without a chief prosecutor for almost four years.
Haxhiu received Gashi in a meeting on Tuesday, where he handed him the decree for his appointment, after the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council had proposed him after a competition lasting several months, which was opposed by the Chief Prosecutor of the Kosovo Special Prosecution Office, Blerim Isufaj.
Blerim Isufaj has appealed to the Constitutional Court against the competition, because he believes that the Prosecutorial Council did not have a legal basis to open a new competition for Chief State Prosecutor, claiming that its decision from November 2023 to appoint him to this position is still in force.
But Haxhiu said he decided to decree Gashi after a "careful and comprehensive review of the submitted materials, including also relevant information provided by competent security institutions and reports from organizations that have monitored the selection process."
"Considering the importance of this function and the need for the full functioning of justice institutions, I have acted in accordance with constitutional and legal responsibilities," said Haxhiu.
Meanwhile, the Prosecutorial Council said that with the signing of the decree by Haxhiu, the constitutional and legal procedure for his appointment as head of the Kosovo prosecutorial system has been concluded.
Gashi will be Chief State Prosecutor for a seven-year term.
Kosovo has been without a Chief State Prosecutor since Aleksandër Lumezi's mandate ended in 2022.
In the absence of a Chief Prosecutor with a full mandate during this time, his duties were performed by Besim Kelmendi and Agron Qalaj.
The then-President Vjosa Osmani did not appoint Isufaj to this position when the Prosecutorial Council proposed him in 2023, on the grounds that several legal violations had been found in the selection process.
The international community had criticized the manner in which Isufaj was selected by the KPK, and on occasion demanded that the process return to ground zero./REL
