On the night of Dec. 11, 2013 in Prague’s Old Town, four men jumped out of a Porsche Cayenne on Kaprova Street and attacked the security guards of the COCO Cafe Cocktail Bar.
According to police, the assailants included Flamur Azemi, who charged the guards brandishing a retractable baton and a knife. His older brother, Fatmir Azemi, threatened the bouncers with what turned out to be an air gun.
One witness testified that Flamur Azemi hit one of the bouncers, 39-year-old Czech boxer Petr Horacek, so hard with his baton that he damaged his skull. Azemi then shoved Horacek inside the bar, where he stabbed him in the chest repeatedly with a 6-inch blade. Horacek suffered internal bleeding and a collapsed lung.
The two Albanian brothers are yet to be caught.
A third suspect has been identified as Luidj Dedaj, reportedly a major figure in the Germany-Kosovo underworld.
The fourth suspect, an underaged male called Jeton A., was detained, police spokesperson Jan Danek told Novinky.cz.
According to Czech media, Fatmir Azemi had previously been convicted of shooting and killing a young Albanian runner during a demonstration for peace in Kosovo in 1999.
Another Azemi, Valon, has been wanted since 2007 for shooting and killing the owner of a Prague club in front of the venue, for which he was sentenced in absentia to 10 years.
In 2016, Flamur and Fatmir were sentenced in absentia to 10 years for attempted murder and six years for hooliganism and attempted bodily harm respectively.
Flamur Azemi, as well as another apparent family member, Fatbar Azemi, appear in a leaked private real estate database obtained by OCCRP in connection with properties in Dubai.
At issue are two luxury residences in the Dubai Marina’s Trident Grand Residence, which overlooks beaches, the world’s largest artificial island, and the yachts in the marina.
Apartments in the building sell for from 1,600,000 dirham (US$ 435,530) for a one-bedroom apartment to 25,000,000 dirham ($6,800,000) for a triplex penthouse with a private pool.
A conservative estimate places the value of the Azemi real estate in Dubai at around $1 million.
The luxurious lifestyle provided by Trident Grand Residence corresponds with Fatmir Azemi’s social media profile, which features pictures of him standing next to the infinity pool of the Dukes Dubai Oceana Private Beach Club on one of Dubai’s artificial islands.
This story is part of the Global Anti-Corruption Consortium, a collaboration started by OCCRP and Transparency International. For more information, click here.
