Kosovo Task Force Probes Mystery of Asanaj's Death

A special task force has been set up to solve the riddle of the mysterious death of Kosovo’s Privatization Agency director, Dino Asanaj, who died in hospital on Thursday after stab wounds in his office - but who it now appears may have committed suicide.

Kosovo Prosecutor Blerim Isufaj said on Friday that a mixed team of EULEX and Kosovo prosecutors are investigating the death and they were now investigating two possible tracks - murder and suicide. “We have no suspects up till now,” he said.

The mystery deepened after the newspaper Koha Ditore, quoting its sources, said the autopsy report had suggested that the victim killed himself.

At the crime scene, police found a letter, supposedly written by the victim, which said: “Remzi Ejupi, Zeri newspaper and Abdurrahman Konjufca destroyed my life and family. I took the law in my hands by acting so.”

Hasanaj succumbed to his injuries in hospital on Thursday after stab wounds received hours earlier in his private office. Doctors said that he was stabbed twice with a knife, causing huge loss of blood.

Ejupi, who owns also the daily newspaper Zeri, has already been interviewed by investigators. The businessman took part in the privatization of the Grand Hotel in Pristina, and recently denounced Asanaj, saying he asked him for a 4 million euro cut for the deal, which he didn’t accept.

Konjufca, also a businessman who privatized a chicken farm in Lipjan, has also been interviewed, as were the driver of the victim and some of his other employees.

Ejupi, who is currently out of the country, said he felt sorry for the death but was sticking to his earlier accusations.

“With regards to my previous statements about the deceased Dino Asanaj, related to the Grand Hotel… I stick to what I have said,” Ejupi said in a statement for the media.

Asanaj led the Privatization Agency for three years and had announced his retirement for this year and return to private business.

The 55-year-old was born in Peja and worked for two decades in the United States. He built a small housing development in the capital, the Pristina International Village, otherwise known as the “American Village”.

All 110 homes in the village have been sold to high-ranking officials, businessmen, famous artists and others. This project cost 25 million.

During and after the 1999 war Asanaj served as the representative of the Kosovo government in the United States.

He was also member of the Board of the Trustees of the National Albanian Council, NAAC, from 1993 to 2002, in Washington DC.

More recently he served as an advisor to the Prime Minister of Kosovo on expatriate affairs throughout the world in 2007-2008.