by A Scotsman wanted for murder in his home country has won the right to stay in the UK under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Fatmir Bleta, 64, left Albania two months after allegedly shooting a man in the head with a Kalashnikov rifle, for which he was convicted and sentenced in absentia to 13 years in prison.
He came to Britain with his family and sought asylum by falsely claiming to be a Kosovar, a deception that landed him in prison for 33 months and two weeks in 2018.
Bleta, who has four children, successfully attempted to be extradited from Albania to challenge the sentence claiming he would not be entitled to a retrial and had not been told about the proceedings beforehand.
In a new judgment – revealed in documents seen by the Telegraph – Bleta successfully resisted the Home Office’s attempt to deport him on the grounds that it would breach his Article 6 rights to a fair trial under the ECHR.
Deportation ‘too hard’ on the family
He also appealed under Article 8 of the convention that deportation would violate his right to family life because it would be “too hard” on his family.
The case comes after the Telegraph revealed earlier this week that a Scottish criminal who returned to Britain after being deported won the right to stay because it would be “too hard” on his family and breach section 8 it belongs to the ECHR.
It has prompted fresh calls for the UK to withdraw from the ECSC or seek reform. Robert Jenrick, former immigration minister and Tory leadership contender, said: “Once again activist judges have used the ECHR to prioritize the rights of criminals over the safety of the British public.
“It’s a shame. We will only be able to get thousands of dangerous foreign criminals out of our country if we leave. Restoration is a fantasy. It’s leave or stay – I’m firmly on leave.”
Kemi Badenoch, the shadow housing secretary and Tory leadership rival, said the Government should be prepared to withdraw from the ECHR if necessary but warned that such a move alone would not solve the migrant crisis.
The Telegraph has also learned that two of Bleta’s children have been convicted and are in prison for drug offences. Son Dorian, 37, is serving an 18-year prison term for cocaine trafficking and his daughter Sara, 28, who was an actress, was sentenced to four years in prison for supplying Class A and B drugs.
Bleta came to the UK in 1998 after the alleged murder in September of that year, before being sentenced to 13 years in December.
He was working as a guard at a reservoir when he and his colleague were approached by a man they knew, according to court documents.
The colleague allegedly saw Bleta pointing the Kalashnikov at the victim, who told him not to play with the gun. He then allegedly pulled the trigger and shot him in the head, according to the documents.
On arrival in the UK, Bleta falsely claimed to be a refugee from Kosovo and his wife and children arrived in 2000. Although they were refused asylum, they were granted indefinite leave to remain.
He gained British citizenship in 2017 but was convicted of making a false statement to obtain a passport the following year, along with three other counts of dishonesty. He was sentenced to 33 months and two weeks in prison.
Judges refuse extradition
The judges rejected a request for extradition from Albania on the basis that he was never arrested and “there was no material to show that he knew, or should have known, the date and place of trial and that the trial proceed in his absence. “.
They also accepted that there was “insufficient assurance” that Bleta would receive a retrial or a review amounting to a retrial, which meant there was a “real risk” that it would be a “flagship” breach to return him to to Albania. of his article 6 ECHR rights to a fair trial.
After he completed his prison sentence in 2018, the Home Office attempted to deport him. His legal team then claimed it violated his right to family life under the ECHR.
In a final supreme court case in September, two judges accepted that Bleta “absent himself” from Albania on purpose to avoid the murder trial and “could not attend a retrial”.
They rejected the Home Office’s deportation appeal because they said there was “a real risk of the claimant’s return and a clear breach of Article 6 ECHR”.
Contacted by the Telegraph at his home in west London, Bleta admitted he arrived in the UK in 199 but denied being convicted of murder. Instead, he claimed to have been cleared of the crime in multiple courts.
“I’m clean of everything,” he said. “In the courts, both courts, I am clear. You are wrong, you checked it. Clear here, clear Albania, everything.”
When asked if he expressly denied the murder, he replied: “No, no”.
His daughter said: “The facts are completely wrong. My father was cleared for that [the murder]. He was blamed for that and this came out, if you really look at the paperwork and the documentation, which I can send you, he was cleared for that.
“He wasn’t even in the country when it happened. He was not in the country at the time.”
She added: “My father is very ill and the only reason he got a deportation order is because the Home Office can’t do their job which they have suffered over and over again.
“The Royal Court of Justice ruled that my father was not aware of any crime that had been committed and that is why he was cleared.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “It would be inappropriate to comment while legal proceedings are ongoing.”
