The Court of Appeal has decided to overturn the decision issued on February 10, 2025, by the Korça Court, which provided for a total of 83 years in prison for the defendants in the Martin Çeço murder case, following the request of the Prosecution.
With today's decision, the Appeals Panel with rapporteur Marsela Pepi and members Genti Dokollari and Irena Brahimi has decided to overturn this decision and return the case for retrial in the same court, but with a different panel.
Earlier, the Korça Court sentenced the four perpetrators to a total of 83 years in prison, of which Martina Pajollari would serve 20 years.
The young woman was in a relationship with the victim, but the prosecution's investigations revealed that she had ambushed the 26-year-old.
It is also suspected that during the time she was in a love relationship with the young man, she had a relationship with one of the Mollaj cousins, who was convicted of the serious crime three years ago.
The case that shocked Maliq
Martin Çeço was murdered on June 12, 2022. The young man was found strangled with a rope and thrown into a reservoir two days after losing contact with his family.
The Korça Police and Prosecutor's Office arrested cousins Valter and Edlir Mollaj from the village of Marjan in Korça and their shepherd Bledi Angjo as suspects in the incident. According to investigators, the motive for the incident was the fact that the victim was in a relationship with Martina Pajollari, who was said to be in a parallel relationship with one of the cousins.
The prosecution then placed Martina Pajollari in the dock as an accomplice in this incident, as she was suspected of having ambushed the victim.
According to the defense at trial, at no point was the defendants' direct or indirect connection to the victim proven.
The defense at the hearing, conducted by various lawyers, articulated that the prosecution did not request the provision of materials from the company "Meta" where it was alleged that the victim and the suspected perpetrators had contact.
Meanwhile, according to them, no evidence in court proves that Valter and Edlir Mollaj committed this crime and they announced an appeal of the decision.