The Court of Appeal sentenced Hektor Mahmutaj to 21 years in prison for the murder of a farmer in Fier in 1997. Mahmutaj was extradited from England on September 1, 2020, where he had gone hiding in a truck and used 13 different identities.

In July 1997, Mahmutaj shot and killed Gentjan Jahaj, in the place called "Kurrizi i Sinanit", where the national road joins the road of Kutë village, Fier.

On April 14, 2000, the Court of Fier sentenced him to 25 years in prison in absentia for the charge of murder "Premeditated murder" and "Unauthorized possession of combat weapons"

Ten years later, the convict submitted a request for a review of this decision and on October 23, 2020, the Court of the Fier Judicial District decided to accept the request and sent the case for retrial with another panel at the Court of First Instance of the Fier Judicial District.

On March 11, 2022, the Court of Fier found him guilty and sentenced him to 25 years of imprisonment, in an institution for the execution of criminal decisions of ordinary security.

The 47-year-old appealed the decision, asking to be declared innocent. On June 14, 2023, the Court of Appeal, composed of the panel with Judge Relator Genti Dokollari and members Iliba Bezati and Fuat Vjerdha, decided: to uphold the decision and finally sentenced him to 21 years in prison.

In 2018, Hektor Mahmutaj was arrested by the British authorities at the request of the Albanian authorities. In October 2018, a British court accepted the request that he be extradited to Albania, but released him on bail against a bond of 10,000 thousand dollars until his extradition. Hektor Mahmutaj used these moments to escape.

He was extradited on August 1, 2020 to Albania, where he restarted the court battle for the charge of murder for which he was accused and which happened in 1997.