29 Oct 14
An EU rule-of-law mission special prosecutor in Kosovo said that a senior official at the European judicial body took bribes to free suspects accused of serious crimes.

Petrit Collaku
BIRN
Pristina

Special prosecutor Maria Bamieh told BIRN that she discovered from records of phone surveillance in cases that she was investigating that an official at the EU rule-of-law mission (EULEX) took bribes to release suspects accused of murder and corruption.

Bamieh, a British lawyer, said that she decided to speak out in order to deflect any possible accusation against her. She has been suspended by EULEX for going public.

“This way I wanted to protect my reputation by going out in public and explaining the allegations,” Bamieh told BIRN.

“They started to defame my character. They called me a mad, disgruntled colleague,” she said.

EULEX has refused to comment on her claims directly.

It has said however that Bamieh was suspended amid an inquiry into the leaking of documents to local media.

“Whistleblowing does not mean you can leak confidential documents to the media, especially when a process has already been taken forward by the organisation,” EULEX said in a statement published by AFP news agency.

EULEX deals with cases of organised crime, corruption and war crimes which are considered too important or sensitive to be handled by the Kosovo judiciary.