As a member of an organised criminal group the Accused Leonard Dushi was found guilty of transporting for gain across the State border individuals who did not fulfil the legal requirements for legal entry. The Appellate Panel established, inter alia, that the Accused was part of a chain for illegal tranportation of persons from Albania to BiH and further to European countries. In this part of the verdict the Appellate Panel found that the Trial Panel correctly established the facts as well as their legal qualification under the above criminal offences.
However, the Appellate Panel found that the evidence did not prove that the Accused had committed the criminal offence of Forgery of a document. It also acquitted the Accused of one charge of Organised crime and Smuggling of persons in connection with a promise to transport an individual from BiH to Belgium. The Panel further overturned convictions of the Accused under two counts in the first instance verdict (Aggravated theft), finding that the evidence on which the conviction was based was gathered through major violations of the Criminal Procedure Code of BiH.
On 31 October 2006, the Trial Panel found Leonard Dushi guilty of Organised crime, Forgery of documents, and the Extended criminal offence of aggravated theft, and sentenced him to 5 years imprisonment. The second Accused, Iseni Eljmi, was convicted of being an accessory to Smuggling of persons for aiding Leonard Dushi in illegally transporting individuals over the State border. Eljmi received a suspended sentence of 10 months. On 9 January 2007, the Appellate Panel rejected the appeal filed by the defence attorney for Eljmi Iseni due to its filing outside the legally prescribed deadline.
