Series index:

1. An EPO Administrative Council Exposé -- Part I: A New EPO Balkan Affair?
2. An EPO Administrative Council Exposé — Part II: A Mysterious Fist-Bumping Masquerade in Skopje
3. An EPO Administrative Council Exposé — Part III: A Longtime Associate of the Doyen
4. An EPO Administrative Council Exposé — Part IV: A Party Political Animal
5. An EPO Administrative Council Exposé — Part V: Sharing Out the Spoils of Public Office
6. You are here ☞ A Learned Legal Luminary

Emruli obtained his doctorate in law from the University of Tirana in Albania.

Summary: A closer look at a long-running EPO delegate from North Macedonia and his background (leading to a dubious appointment and defense of Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos proposals)

In the last part we saw how Safet Emruli's career seems to have profited from his political connections to the DUI, which is the leading ethnic Albanian party in North Macedonia.

"In 2008 Emruli had the good fortune to be elevated from his position as a junior teaching assistant at the Faculty of Law at the State University of Tetovo to become Director of the State Office for Intellectual Property in the North Macedonian capital Skopje."In 2008 Emruli had the good fortune to be elevated from his position as a junior teaching assistant at the Faculty of Law at the State University of Tetovo to become Director of the State Office for Intellectual Property in the North Macedonian capital Skopje.

At the time of his SOIP appointment in 2008, Emruli was the proud holder of a recently awarded master's degree in law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Tirana in Albania.

"During the period between 2010 and 2013 he managed to enhance his academic credentials by completing a doctorate in law, once again at the University of Tirana."The subject of his master's thesis submitted in Albanian was "Control of Constitutionality in the Republic of Macedonia".

Despite his busy schedule as SOIP director, Emruli managed to use his spare time productively. During the period between 2010 and 2013 he managed to enhance his academic credentials by completing a doctorate in law, once again at the University of Tirana.

The doctorate was awarded in 2013 on the basis of a thesis submitted in Albanian on the subject of "Development of the Constitutional Court in the Republic of Macedonia".

"The choice of the University of Tirana as the location for pursuing his post-graduate legal studies is most likely connected to the limited opportunities for third level education available to the Albanian ethnic minority in North Macedonia."It's worth noting that although he pursued his postgraduate studies abroad at the University of Tirana in Albania, Safet Emruli's alma mater is the State University of Tetovo in his home country.

The choice of the University of Tirana as the location for pursuing his post-graduate legal studies is most likely connected to the limited opportunities for third level education available to the Albanian ethnic minority in North Macedonia. We will return to this topic in more detail in the next part.

Cover page of Emruli's doctoral thesis submitted to the University of Tirana in Albania.

It's also worth noting in passing that Emruli's name appears on a number of publications in reputable journals such as the European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies (EJMS), which describes itself as "a professional, double-blind-peer-reviewed, open-access journal publishing high-quality scientific articles in the fields of sociology, education, economics, business studies and related multidisciplinary fields" and the Journal of Law, Policy and Globalization, (JLPG), a peer-reviewed journal published by the International Institute for Science, Technology and Education (IISTE).

For example: ● Trademark Protection, Absolute and Relative Grounds for Refusal of Trademark, EJMS Jan-Apr 2016, Vol.1 Nr. 2; and ● Copyright and Copyright Protection, EJMS Sep - Dec 2016, Vol. 2, Nr. 4. ● "Ignorantia Legis Neminem Excusat" In the Area of Equality and Non-Discrimination - The Case of Macedonia, JLPG, Vol.43, 2015; and ● General Reviews of the Independent Work of the Constitutional Courts, JLPG, Vol.71, 2018.

The co-authors of the EJMS papers are listed as: - Safet Emruli, PhD in law, Professor at the Faculty of law, State University of Tetova; - Agim Nuhiu, PhD in law, Professor at the Faculty of law, State University of Tetova; - Besa Kadriu, MSc in law, Faculty of law, South East European University.

The co-authors of the first JLPG paper are listed as Agim Nuhiu, Naser Ademi, Safet Emruli and the second JLPG paper is attributed to Safet Emruli as the sole author.

As can be seen, all of the above-mentioned papers are attributed to Emruli in his capacity as "Professor at the Faculty of law, State University of Tetova" and most of them were co-authored with Agim Nuhiu also designated as "Professor at the Faculty of law, State University of Tetova".

The significance of these details will become apparent later on when we report on the fallout from an inspection conducted at the Faculty of Law of the State University of Tetova in June 2019.

But before doing so, we will first of all turn our attention to Emruli's alma mater.

Stay tuned for the next part where we take a closer look at the State University of Tetovo, best described as an academic institution with a political mission and close links to the DUI. ⬆