International Silence on a Press Freedom Scandal

A celebrated press freedom advocate is accused of using international influence to silence a critic, while organisations that endorsed her evade detailed questions demanding accountability.

In Kosovo’s fractured post-independence media and political landscape, few figures have commanded as much international prestige as Flutura Kusari, a senior legal adviser with the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) and a prominent member of the European anti-SLAPP steering committee. Her work has earned her accolades, endorsements from leading press freedom organisations, and even the German Federal Order of Merit¹. But in recent months, her conduct in a deeply contentious case has raised urgent questions about whether the same power she has wielded to defend free expression has been deployed to silence it.

On 1 July 2025, Gunpowder Chronicles published² a detailed investigation into Kusari’s failed criminal complaint against Kosovar citizen Mentor Llugaliu, a social media user whose satire and criticism she alleged amounted to harassment. The Basic Prosecution in Pristina dismissed the case outright, finding no contact, no threat, and no criminal act under Kosovo’s Crim…