The Sun: Convicted Albanians will be stripped of their citizenship in Britain, the first case is marked

The Home Office appeals the decision of the "lenient" judges that stopped the removal of British citizenship for serious criminals without warning. According to The Sun, the Home Office is appealing a decision made by judges described as "lenient", which prohibits the removal of British citizenship for serious criminals without first notifying them.

This tactic, relatively unknown by the Ministry of the Interior, prevented serious criminals with two passports from relinquishing their foreign citizenship, which would leave them stateless, which is illegal under international law.

But the Court of Appeal said this method, used after the case of rapists from Rochdale, who threw away Pakistani passports to avoid deportation, did not give individuals the opportunity to defend themselves fairly.

This decision allowed the "boss of organized crime", the Albanian Gjelosh Kolicaj, 42, to stay in the United Kingdom for reasons related to human rights.

The money launderer, convicted of smuggling £8 million in suitcases from Britain to Albania, claimed that former Home Secretary Priti Patel had treated him unfairly, giving him just 30 minutes' notice when he was stripped of his British citizenship in 2021.

He was jailed for 6 years in 2018, and the National Crime Agency warned that he would remain a threat even after his release. An internal Home Office assessment stated: "The removal of Kolicaj's British citizenship would be in the public interest, as it would help prevent and deter further crime, especially by the criminal group where he had a leadership role."

On January 22, 2021, Kolicaj was informed that his passport status was under review. Just 30 minutes later, it was informed that the order for her removal had been issued. In the notification letter, Mrs. Patel wrote: "The offences you have been convicted of are very serious and involve organising and collaborating with others. I am convinced that your involvement in organized crime justifies this decision."

The father-of-four claimed that he had not had a fair opportunity to challenge the order, obtained under Section 40(2) of the British Citizenship Act 1981. The law allows the Home Secretary to unilaterally revoke the British citizenship of a dual-nationality person, if this action does not leave them stateless.

This law was mostly used in the case of Shamima Begum, the daughter-in-law of ISIS, in 2019. Kolicaj claimed that the lack of time to respond constituted a violation of his human rights. A "soft" judge accepted this claim.

Judge Lord Edis said: "Mr Kolicaj has been deprived of citizenship without having the opportunity to give any reason why this should not have happened."

However, the court did not provide guidance on how the Interior Ministry could make the procedure fairer for foreign criminals. He added: "The notice and the order were procedurally unfair and should be annulled. It is not the duty of the court to create a procedure that would be fair."

He directly accused Patel of violating the obligations of justice in the name of efficiency. This decision could pave the way for hundreds of other foreign criminals, whose British passports have been stripped of their British passports, to claim that they have not been notified in time.

At least two of the abusers in Rochdale renounced their Pakistani citizenship after being informed that British passports were under scrutiny: Qari Abdul Rauf and Adil Khan, who continue to live in Rochdale more than a decade after their conviction.

Kolicaj gained British citizenship in 2009 through a marriage to a British woman, but later broke up and married another Albanian. He has two children with his second wife, but held a British passport from his first marriage.

After obtaining citizenship, it is believed that he started using his passport to send suitcases filled with money abroad. He and his brother, Jak, led a group of four people who made 80 trips over two years from Stansted Airport to various countries in Europe.

They were handcuffed after police seized two bags containing 180 thousand and 100 thousand pounds in cash, respectively. Kolicaj had previously won a court case, relying on Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees private and family life.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Foreigners who commit crimes should have no doubt that we will do everything to ensure they are not free on Britain's streets, including deporting them as soon as possible." /The Sun/