Vetting show

The Cadastre provided the occupant of private property with a certificate of ownership
The history of this institutional clash in Lushnje, documented in file no. 784 of the Prosecution, shows that for more than a decade, the family of Dhimo and Bukuri Boçi was held hostage between two ownership certificates, the one they had in their pockets as the legal owners of the land and the one the state gave to the builder without permission on their land.

The documents reveal a shocking fact that the former mayor of the Municipality Fatos Tushe was aware of the situation, where the Boçi family was seeking support from the IMT Lushnje to take over their property while the IMT declared that it had no means. The Director of Planning, Mimoza Haxhiu, has testified that the requests of citizen Dhimo Boçi were quoted directly by the former mayor Tushe to the relevant directorates. So, the information that there was an execution order was at the top of the Municipality pyramid, but the responses coming from the Municipality avoided the responsibilities to carry out the execution.

While the Bailiff complained that he could not find a fadroma, the former ALUIZNI, led by Evis Qyra, was moving rapidly in the opposite direction. Although in 2016 the legalization practice was suspended because Genci Gjoka himself had submitted a court certificate indicating that he was in court with the owners, in February 2018 everything changed. With an order from the General Directorate, the practice was resumed with the claim that the suspension was without legal grounds.

"We found out all this according to the documents he had made and we were told by the Court that Genci Gjoka was doing the legalization, then we asked what documents Genci Gjoka had and we got all these until his ownership certificate came out. He got the construction one, the one he got from the municipality and sent it to the legalization. The director of the legalization was Evis Qyra. When we went to Evis Qyra, we sent him the file of the entire property, what we had from beginning to end, all the court decisions, showing Evis Qyra even the postal letters because he denies the documentation that we have sent. He says; "I did the legalization because Dhimo Boçi did not bring me the documents". In fact, I have the postal letters, that he received the letters, our departure and the answers that Evis Qyra himself gave us, he signed them himself.

Then we went to the mayor, the mayor did not receive us, the deputy mayor received us, who explained to us although I knew this "The state gives and takes only those persons who have been occupied by the state institution itself, whether it was a kindergarten, whether it was a school", while he was privately and I explained it. Genci Gjoka knew this very well and this is the violation he committed and the insistence he made on Evis Qyra. Evis Qyra violated the law by saying in a confrontation with us and allegedly at the Prosecutor's Office that "I have legalized it based on the VKM issued by the Prime Minister".

Despite the situation, the Aluizni specialists continued the procedures, justifying that the law allowed them to legalize objects on third-party land, since the owners would be “compensated” by the state. They claimed to the prosecutor’s office that they had no knowledge of the demolition decision, since according to them, no official document had been administered to the Aluizni protocol to notify them of the Court’s decision or the execution order. This lack of information within the offices located in the same city led to the scandal of September 2018, where Genci Gjoka would receive the ownership certificate for the house that was supposed to be demolished.

According to lawyer Duraj, the former legalization office of that time should not have performed such a legalization as we are facing a case of exceeding powers.

"In all the laws that have been for legalization and for the legalization of informal buildings, all these laws with the changes they have undergone cannot legalize a property that was acquired by court decision, this is taxing," said lawyer Duraj.

The receipt of the certificate from the person who had usurped the Genci Gjoka property was the final blow for the Boçi family. The bailiff was forced to stop any action because legally it was not possible to demolish an object that the state had certified as legal property. Dhimo Boçi had to go personally to Aluizni's offices and raise the alarm, so that Evis Qyra could order an archive verification. Only then did Aluizni accept it as a mistake, cancel the legalization permit and request its deletion from Hipoteka, acknowledging that the object was indeed subject to a final demolition decision.

"Clearly and explicitly, legalization could not be done as it would have entered a vicious circle and spiraled this conflict."

This is in favor of the person who occupied this property, even though the ASHK has gone to court for revocation while it could have done the revocation itself, i.e. through administrative channels, by establishing absolute invalidity.

"It is a right of the ASHK, according to the law, to revoke this decision it has made," said lawyer Duraj.

He further adds that the ASA did not have to take the case to court since the law gives it the power to make its own adjustments for mistakes it makes, by deregistering.

There are some details from the investigations of the former Lushnje Prosecutor's Office that raise questions as they relate to criminal liability. The Criminal Code does not exempt you from punishment when you make mistakes, despite the fact that the prosecutor's decision to dismiss the case leaves the incident without an author.

"I make the biggest appeal today to all the Prosecutors' Offices, to prosecutors Merita Selimi, Arben Dyla, Skënder Mestani and now in Fier who are still there, Elida Hoxhaj. The investigation by Elida Hoxhaj was also a scandal, I was left speechless, I did not like myself.

If I had had a bottle of gasoline that day, I would have exploded it that day in the Fier Court, what is this great injustice that is being done to me, oh God?! The investigation was a scandal! A scandal!” says Bukuria about the report she made against the rapists.

Beyond the request for justice, the Boçi couple feels threatened by the party that has sued the Prosecutor's Office and seeks protection from the institutions.

"We feel threatened by Genci Gjoka and the Police who do not take appropriate measures for the words we hear up and down, no we will set off TNT, no we will do this, no that. So I sleep with dreams and I pray a lot to the Chief Prosecutor because I have filed two complaints with SPAK and SPAK has sent it to the Chief Prosecutor of Fier, Elion Mustafaraj, to look into it," declared Bukuria.

Former prosecutor Skënder Mestani would cease the investigation in 2022, leaving the incident without perpetrators and specifying the fabrication of a certificate for the usurper as unintentional and unfounded. Mestani would resign from the prosecutor's office in 2023 to avoid "Vetting", being excluded from the justice institutions for 15 years.

The case of the village of Bubullimë in Lushnje exposes the state's grip on the rights of the rightful landowner to reclaim his property. Sadly, Bukuria admits that all these delays are intentional, stating that "they" are waiting for them to die.