Vetevendosje supporters rally in Pristina over activist who died in prison

Vetevendosje supporters rally in Pristina over activist who died in prison
Vetevendosje leader Albin Kurti visits activist Astrit Dehari's grave. / Vetevendosje
By bne IntelliNews November 5, 2019

Hundreds of people rallied on November 5 in Kosovo’s capital Pristina asking for a new investigation into the death of Vetevendosje activist Astrit Dehari, who died in prison three years ago after being arrested for involvement in an attack on the  parliament.

Supporters of Vetevendosje, which won the October 6 election in Kosovo, rallied peacefully in Pristina, seeking an independent investigation and for officials to be held responsible for the death of Dehari.

Dehari's family members and the leader of Vetevendosje, Albin Kurti, who is set to be become new prime minister, attended the protest.

Kosovo’s prosecutor office reopened the investigation into Dehari's death after the report from Swiss forensic experts released on October 24 showed that his death was likely a homicide, not a suicide.

“We have doubts about the circumstances surrounding the death of Astrit Dehari," the report said, according to broadcaster RTK.

Dehari, 26, was an activist from the that time opposition Vetevendosje party, whose death in prison sparked protests by thousands of Kosovan opposition supporters in Pristina in November 2016. They blamed the government for not providing sufficient security in prisons.

He was arrested in September 2016 alongside five other members of Vetevendosje on suspicion of being involved in a grenade attack in the parliament. The attack in the parliament happened when MPs were about to vote on the border demarcation deal with Montenegro, which Vetevendosje opposed.

The other four opposition members, including a lawmaker, were sentenced in 2017 to prison terms of between two and eight years.

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