Author: birnEU

A truck of Devolli Company filled with six tonnes of coffee was confiscated for two weeks by the police of Kosovo. This truck was suspected for smuggled coffee in the Serbian market by using an alternative road to pass the border line to Serbia. Initially the police stopped the truck in Dumorovc village and they asked the driver for where they were headed to. The truck drivers said that they were sending the coffee to the company Albina NPT. Therefore, according to the charge, the police ordered the truck driver to go back.

Moreover, the police continued to monitor the truck and they saw that half an hour later the truck was again on the same road, very near to the Kosovo-Serbia border. The police found out that they were 3 or 4 kilometres far from the destination that they were headed to, so they decided to confiscate the coffee and raised charges against the owners of the company Albina NPT.

The company that was going to buy the coffee, Albina NPT located in Domorovc, claims that the coffee that they were buying from Devolli Company was going to be sold in the region of Gjilan and Kamenica. According to the Police of Kosovo the value of coffee was 15 thousand Euros.

The evidence offered by the companies has been more convincing to the prosecutor Ismet Ukshini compared to the charges raised by the Kosovo Police. On the March 22, the prosecutor decided to reject the police charges declaring that in this case no law infringement was committed no border was passed. Based on this decision, the prosecutor Ukshini asked the judge to return to the company the confiscated coffee.

However, the decision of the prosecutor Ukshini and the decision of the court did not satisfy the Police of Kosovo. Therefore, Kosovo Police filed a complaint to the Appeals Court claiming that the charges were pressed because there was a suspicion based on evidence that goods were being smuggled.

Baki Kelani, Kosovo police spokesperson, said that the police stopped the truck at the last point of the territory of the Republic of Kosovo.

According to Zyhdi Haziri, a judge in the Basic Court of Gjilan, this is the first time that the Police of Kosovo complains for a verdict. However, the Basic Court of Gjilan has still not passed the case to the Appeal Court in Prishtina. Haziri said, “Based on the prosecutor’s decision, the owners of the company were found innocent and the case was closed”.

Another case tackled by Justice in Kosovo was the Transfer of the police officer Naim Rexha from the police station of Ferizaj to Kacanik. The court of Ferizaj is examining the claim/lawsuit of the police sergeant Naim Rexha, who claimed that he was unfairly transferred from his workplace to another one. He also claimed that two days prior to his transfer he had complained for some irregularities in the command chain of the Police of Kosovo.

Justice in Kosovo also prepared a report about how the disciplinary commission in the Kosovo Lawyers’ Chamber operates.

If a lawyer does not perform his duty according to the law, then there can be consequences. According to the law, the parties that are not satisfied with the lawyer’s performance can complain the Kosovo Lawyers’ Chamber. If lawyers violate the law while representing parties’ interest then the Kosovo Lawyers’ Chamber can exclude them from their duty. The law violations by the lawyer’s side are sanctioned according to the Statute of the Kosovo Lawyers’ Chamber.

Lutfi Dervishi, the owner of the clinic, was found guilty for organized crimes and human trafficking. He was sentenced with eight years of prison and a fee of 10,000 Euro. He is also not allowed to work as a doctor for two years. Moreover, his son, Arban Dervishi, the economist of the clinic, was also found guilty for organized crimes and trafficking. He was sentenced with seven years in prison and a fee of 2,500 Euros.

Other sentenced were the anesthesiologist and his two assistants. Sokol Hajdini, the anesthesiologist, three years in prison; whereas, Islam Bytyqi and Sylejman Dula, assistants, with one year conditional sentence.

The verdict was 20 years of prison for the five persons, for organized crime, human trafficking and heavy body injury, which started in 2008. A patient was found in the Airport of Prishtina in a bad health condition due to a kidney transplant done in Medicus; on that day investigations were started that led to the closure of the clinic.

In 2008, 24 kidneys were transplanted in the clinic Medicus. The prosecution verdict said that the preparations started in 2006 where Lutfi Dervishi was connected directly with the Turkish doctor Youssuf Somnez. The receivers of kidneys were mostly Israelis, whereas, the donors were from Ukraine, Turkey, Israel and etc.

Two other persons that were included in this case were not judged because they were not present. They have an international arrest warrant from the former District Court of Prishtina.

Youssuf Somnez is suspected as the perpetrator of many kidney transplants. 90 000 dollars were paid for a kidney. This activity is banned according to Kosovo laws.

Moreover, the other suspect is Moshe Harel, Turkey-Israeli citizen, who is responsible for mediation and transplant organization.

In addition, in this clinic near Prishtina, 24 patients donated their kidneys and 24 other received them. From 9 receivers there was a paid amount of 759,000 dollars and there were donors who received less than 1,000 dollars.

“The only reason of this exploitation of poor people was the possibility of a tearing benefit and the human greed,” said Jonathan Ratel, EULEX judge.

Judge Ratel also stated: “After their organs were taken, these persons were left on mercy without any proper medical treatment or any necessary medical attention. The damage should be compensated to the victims.”

Among the questions discussed:

How many times have belongings of the Podrimja family, from Gjakova, been stolen? Why haven’t these cases been solved, even though they’ve been reported since 2004? Have the police properly investigated these 18 cases reported by the Podrimja family? What have prosecutors done? What does the suspect say about the crime? Why did the suspect willingly confess to the police? Why did the cases not reach the court? Will the family be compensated with 300,000 euros? How did the theft happen in the notary’s house in Malisheva? Why did the prosecutor release the suspected perpetrator? What does the lawyer say?

Theft is one of the most frequently reported penal acts in the courts of Kosovo. According to statistics of recent years, there were 2,499 cases of theft reported in 2010; 4390 in 2011; 5910 in 2012; and 300 during the first three months of 2013.

The cases include thefts reported by the Podrimja family, which has reported things being stolen since 2004. Materials from from the family’s stone and gravel factory were stolen. The owner Bashkim Podrimja said: “This property has two hectares and 75 acres. It is a stone and gravel refining factory, but we have problems because someone is stealing our material. They have stolen copper and metal continuously.”

The first theft happened in 2004 and since then people stole from them continuously. One thief willingly confessed to the police. While explaining the police why he stole from Podrimja family, he asked to remain anonymous.  

The suspect is aware that he might get punished by accepting guilt; however, he said he confessed because he regretted committing the theft.

The police commander of Gjakova, Kriste Gjokaj, was aware of the thefts reported by the Podrimja family. “In total [Bashkim] Podrimja has reported 18 cases. This year he reported three cases of theft in his company. After the last three cases, we organized an intensive investigation and the thiefs were discovered. Through criminal charges we have managed to send them to the Gjakova Prosecution,” said Gjokaj.

The chief prosecutor of Gjakova, Shpresa Bakija, said that three of these cases were resolved with final verdicts. In all three cases the perpetrators were given suspended sentences, whereas one was fined 250 Euros.

Podrimja said he does not expect to be compensated of the loses.

In addition, the residents of Astrazub village, in the Municipality of Malisheva, faced many thefts. A few houses were burglarized – including the home of a notary, Ibrahim Elshani.

The thieves broke into the house when the family was not there and when the family got back home they noticed that all the windows were broken and their house had been burglarized.

“5,000 euros gold and 700 Euros cash were stolen from me, not evening considering the damages such as, broken windows and doors,” Elshani said.

The suspect’s lawyer explained that he informed his client about his rights, but the suspect admitted guilt in order to lower his punishment and was not pressured from the police.

Since the prosecutor, Xhavit Osmani, from Gjakova, made the decision to stop the investigations in this case, Elshani’s lawyer decided to make a request for the state prosecution to cancel the verdict of the Basic Prosecution in Gjakova.

 

More than 1400 sentenced individuals with prison or fee after the war will not suffer their sentence because the subjects have been statutory limited in the former Municipality Court of Prishtina, from January 2000 until June 2011. Also, the sentenced individuals who were transported with court vehicles, according to the report, did not reach the courts in the country’s correctional centers. The report also shows that 1,200 subjects disappeared completely because the court has not given access to the investigative unit team.

An audit from the Kosovo Judicial Council, which “Justice in Kosovo” has obtained, raises doubts about the 1,400 sentenced individuals who escaped the punishment, and also 230 prisoners have gained freedom under illegal circimstances.

The postponement of a judicial issue, known as the “Death of a case,” happens when the court fails to send the convict to serve the sentence for a particular amount of time. The statutory limitation schedules vary depending on the penal act.

The investigation of KJC lasted two years. It was found out that the Municipality Court of Prishtina has let many cases go exceed the statutory limitation.

According to the report, one of the reasons for statutory limitation of the cases is the fact that they were kept in the judges’ offices and were not sent to the execution office. Another reason is that the sentences were not transformed from to a prison sentence when the convicted person refused to pay the fee.  

Head of KJC, Enver Peci, admits that in particular cases the courts did not stop statutory limitations. Those who are predominantly responsible for the execution of cases are the chief judges, according to Peci.

Former Secretary of the Municipality Court of Prishtina, Makifete Saliuka, who managed this institution for six months, says that she decided to stop statutory limitations which transformed fee sentences to prison sentences.

The report also shows that 238 individuals were sent to the correction centers and have no evidence that they were accepted. Suspicions were raised on whether these individuals were released while being transferred; meanwhile the court considers that they have been sent to prison.

Head of Basic Court of Prishtina, Hamdi Ibrahimi, banned court drivers to drive the sentenced individuals to prison. “Now, the sentenced individuals are sent to prison by the Police of Kosovo or by the Correcting Service,” said Hamdi Ibrahimi.

“We are going to start investigating everything that was found in this report,” said Zef Prendrecaj, Head of Disciplinary Unit of Kosovo Judicial Council. These findings have pushed authorities to suspect that these irregularities occur in other courts too.

According to Peci, audits will be done in the other 13 courts.

The first prosecutor, Cezary Michalczuk, is from Poland and worked there as a prosecutor for fifteen years. He claims that his primary reasons for coming to Kosovo are his idealism and his desire to share his knowledge for the greater good.

When asked why he decided to come to Kosovo and leave his decent job in Poland he added, “I could give you my personal reasons. When I was in Poland, I was a specialist in certain areas of criminal law, and since many of my colleagues did not know about the European criminal law, I believe that it is my duty to transmit my knowledge.”

The second prosecutor, Nita Amin, worked in UK for twenty eight years. She has a background as a prosecutor since she had dealt with various crimes in the United Kingdom.

“In Kosovo, the types of crime I deal with are similar to criminal acts in the UK: Murders, aggravated murderers, unlawful possession of weapons, human trafficking etc,” added Amin when asked about the types of crimes that are under her department.

The third prosecutor, Philip Drake, was a defense counselor, deputy judge and a public prosecutor for eighteen years. His main reason for coming to Kosovo is because of the so-called “seconded,” which is a temporarily transfer from his own country.

In regards to the collection of evidence surrounding the attacks that happened back in 2008 on March 14-17, Amin explained: “Well, as you know, the events took place on March 14-17, 2008; therefore, the investigation was conducted by the former UNMIK police officers and they launched a Task Force investigation and all the evidence was collected by UNMIK.”

“Justice in Kosovo” implied that there were a lot of records where more than six attackers were identified, and Amin adds that one of her tasks is to find more suspects since the investigations are still open.

The Task Force was created by UNMIK, and since the attacks against KFOR soldiers happened in Mitrovica from in March of 2008, its mission is to investigate, arrest and prosecute serious crime.

An international officer was killed during this crime event in Mitrovica, where according to Amin that issue is still open and the murderer has not been found yet.

“Justice in Kosovo” emphasized that there were 10 Kosovars killed in 2000 in Mitrovica and asked whether there are any investigations regarding the event, Amin answered: “I am aware of the incident. As for the investigation I cannot answer because that’s not one of the cases that it is in within my office, and since it happened during the UNMIK times, I am not sure whether they handed the investigation to EULEX or not.”

As for the murder case of Selver Haradinaj, Amin explains: “That investigation is still open..It is a joint investigation between EULEX, the local prosecution office, the local police and the police of EULEX. The investigation continues.”

The task Force primarily deals with the incidents that happened towards the KFOR soldiers and there are six suspects. Regarding the incidents that happened in 2000 and 2004, the cases are not under their department and have not been solved yet.

EULEX Prosecutor Cezary Michalczuk, when asked about the start and proceedings of investigations of Krusha e Vogel, said: “We have officially launched investigations in late May of last year; exactly on May31, 2012. At least, the number of suspects reaches the number of 56, for now.” He also said EULEX is cooperating with Serbia and ICTY in The Hague.

Michalczuk is optimistic about finding evidence, even though 14 years have passed since the massacre. “Once completed the process of gathering evidence, we will, first, talk to the perpetrators individually … and then make the arrest at a proper time, if we collect enough evidence,” said Michalczuk.

According to Michalczuk, UNMIK has not investigated this massacre. However, Oliver Salgado, a spokesperson for the UN mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, said in a letter to “Justice in Kosovo,” UNMIK did produce some investigative findings and send them to ICTY in The Hague.

Eduard Gold, head of unit for war crimes in EULEX, said that investigations started in 2008 – by EULEX.

“The case of Krusha e Vogel actually began when EULEX received a mandate in 2008. The difficulties we had in this case were, of course, the period of transition from UNMIK to EULEX, for a while,” said Gold.

When asked about how long that these investigations could take, Gold said: “There is a lot of information about the suspects, even from witnesses. The time needed to check all this information is too long. Once we see that there is sufficient evidence to proceed further, of course, we will continue the investigation. I will not give timeline, but of course we do not want to take too much time.”

There is a huge disappointment amongst people in Krusha e Vogel. One of the survivors said that the investigations are done unprofessionally and feelssceptical about whether the perpetrators will pay for their crimes. “In two days Krusha e Vogel lost 102 people. The first Day on March 25, they were nine people lost, while the second day another 102 people were missing,” says Agron Limani, director of the association “March 26, 1999.”

 

Among the questions discussed were: Why has the appointment of Enver Peci as a Head of KJC been contested? Why did Sali Mekaj make false accusations about irregularities in the election process? Why were his claims rejected by members of the KJC? How many votes did Peci get? Will Peci resign if he does not fulfill his election promises?

Recognized as one of the most important events for Kosovo’s judiciary, the KJC elections saw Enver Peci re-elected as the Head of the institution.

Problems emerged when one of the members of the council – respectively the Head of the Appeal Court, Sali Mekaj voiced problems about the process.

Mekaj said his rights as a candidate were denied. He outlined his grievances in a letter to KJC members.

“The irregularities make the process non-transparent, irregular and unlawful. In my case, it resulted in the violation of my right to be a candidate for the Head of KJC and to participate equally in this competition,” Mekaj wrote.

In addition, two candidates, Valdete Daka and Enver Peci, presented their platforms for justice reforms. Peci won, getting six voters more than Daka. After Peci get a new mandate for the next three years, he vowed that if he does not succeed in implementing his platform, he will resign.

Also, “Justice in Kosovo” broadcast a report about a trial at the Economic Court in Prishtina. The trial concerned a libel lawsuit by businessman Bejtush Zhugolli against Zeri newspaper for an article titled “Godfathers of tenders in Kosovo” written by journalist Arbana Xharra. The lawsuit was filed last year.

After three court hearings, the judge in Economic Court in Prishtina, Fetije Sadiku announced the verdict, rejecting the lawsuit, arguing that the article that the Xharra wrote was based on official documents.

With this verdict, “Justice in Kosovo” asked Sadiku for a statement, but she refused to speak in front the camera – reasoning that the case is still in process at a higher court.

In its decision, the court reasoned that the respondent, Arbana Xharra only quoted her sources of information and did not use her opinion. Xharra had, in fact, revealed the sources of her information and adhered to the code of ethics of print media in Kosovo.

Finally the judgment of the court said that the plaintiff, Zhugolli, did not give sufficient reasons to the court that publication of his name has influenced the damage of his prestige and reputation. Furthermore, he did not offer sufficient evidence to support his suit, either.

Also during the program, BIRN aired a report that showed how KJC deals with cases in which a judge violates the rules. It showed that within KJC there exists a Disciplinary Commission that takes disciplinary action against those judges who do not respect the ethics code.

If Kosovo citizens have any dissatisfaction with any judge, they can complain to the Office of Disciplinary Council or to the Disciplinary Committee. The most frequent cases involve negligence and misconduct. Sanctions can include a warning, final warning, written warning and dismissal, said the “Justice in Kosovo” report.

The third report talked about a case in which the prosecution and court investigated and convinced two policemen in the region of Mitrovica. They were convinced of misuse of official position and bribery. The judgment was made possible by a cooperative witness.  

The case utilized covert monitoring of conversations, which the court authorized.  

One of the policemen was sentenced to five months imprisonment while the other was sentenced to 14 months.

Among the questions discussed were: Who are the potential candidates for this position? When is the election process going to be held? What are Valdete Daka’s plans if she runs this institution? What does Enver Peci says? How is the election process going to be organized and who has the right to vote? Why do the lawyers think that the judges decided without reviewing the case files? What does the judge say about the accusations? Why does Kosovo have the highest number of detentions?

In the election there were two candidates, Valdete Daka and Enver Peci.

Kosovo Judicial Council is the highest justice body, which decides for the election and suspension of judges, and organizes other justice bodies.

Both of the candidates have plans for the future if they are elected. Daka believes that based on her three years of experience as KJC member, she has the ability to run the council. According to Daka, KJC should increase the transparency with the public and it should also balance the powers between the branches: “There should be a balance between judiciary and other branches. Our branch was always left aside despite the fact that we are equal to other branches. The judiciary should hire more judges and a professional staff in order to lower the number of cases.” Daka promised that if she is elected as the Head of the Council, she will raise the funds for a professional staff.

Meanwhile, the other candidate, Peci claims that he is running for the Head of the Council not by its own will, but because the other members of the council chose him and thought that he is the right person for that position for three upcoming years. In addition, Peci admits that there have been some failures of KJC, but they were inherited from the past: “As we may know, in the beginning we had problems in dividing competencies and then we had the process of verification where we verified all the judges and as a result the number of cases.” In the future mandate, he plans to lower the number of cases.

According to Peci, KJC does not have funds to engage professional co-workers because the budget that we requested was not approved by the Ministry of Finances and the Parliamentary Commission. KJC has a lot of work to do in order to change the perception about the judiciary in Kosovo.

Both candidates, Daka and Peci, do not have any plan on how to solve the issue of the courts in Northern Kosovo because they say that politics should resolve this issue.

 

Among the questions discussed were: Which of the judges of Constitutional Court were against returning the case on trial? Why are members of the Kosovo Judicial Council dissatisfied with the decision of Constitutional Court for Xhemajli’s case? Has this judicial case created a dangerous precedent? Who says that the Constitutional Court is transformed into a fourth instance court?

The decision to return to Bajrush Xhemajli’s case is involving the Constitutional Court and the Kosovo Judicial Council. Supreme Judge, Valdete Daka said: “The Supreme Court is the final court and the Supreme Court decisions are final, but as we can see the Constitutional Court is taking the role of the fourth instance.”

Four years ago, in the Prishtina-Ferizaj highway, Bajrush Xhemajli, former Mayor of Ferizaj was accused of causing a fatal car accident where Labinot Rrustemi was found dead. The accident was investigated by District Prosecution in Prishtina. Expert Ylli Koshi concluded that Xhemajli’s car caused the accident because he was speeding. Xhemajli, who was also injured during the accident, decided to defend himself in silence. The court ruled that Xhemajli was found guilty, and he was sentenced to two years and six months in prison. Xhemajli and his defendant were dissatisfied with this decision and they asked to involve a freelance expert, but the District Court denied their request.

Xhemajli also resigned from his position as mayor because according to the law of local self-governance, sentenced individuals cannot govern the municipality.

In addition, Xhemajli was sentenced from the highest court, but he did not suffer the punishment. Xhemajli made a third appeal in the Constitutional Court and they accepted his appeal. His trial was suspended because the constitutional law claimed that there were not enough experts to investigate the case.

The victim’s father however was dissatisfied with the court’s decision: “I was left speechless when I saw in the newspaper that the constitutional court freed the Mayor of Ferizaj, with the possibility of retrial in the Supreme Court,” said Rustemi.

The compiler of the appeal in the Constitutional Court, lawyer Korab Sejdiu explained that Xhemajli appealed to the Constitutional Court not to contest the expertise, but to request for the right to engage in an expert in order for the parties to be equal.  These denials have led the Constitutional Court and Xhemajli to review the case.

 

Among questions discussed were: Why are the lawyers threatening to strike? Why did the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council stop paying lawyers? How many lawyers were faced with disciplinary procedures this year? Why didn’t the Kosovo Chamber of Advocates publish the names of the lawyers who were punished for not doing their job? Why were the lawyers punished with a fee of 300 Euros? Will they lose their licenses?

The interrogation of suspected persons is in risk to be blocked if there is modality found to pay the lawyers who are engaged in interviewing the suspected persons. This threat comes from the lawyers who are working with the police to represent people who do not have the financial resources. According to the Penal Code of Kosovo, when a person does not have financial resources to pay the lawyer, the prosecution bodies engage in a lawyer who is paid by the public found. The payment of lawyers was done by the prosecutorial fund, but prosecution stopped payments 6 months ago and said that the Police of Kosovo should pay lawyers.

Driton Govori, lawyer, says: “After my commitment to the police station, I went to the District Prosecution in Prishtina to ask for the payment, but they told me that from now on the Police of Kosovo will pay the lawyers.”

According to Osman Havolli, Head of Regional Branch of Advocates in Prishtina, “the lawyers who represent their clients in police station are not being paid. The Police of Kosovo says that the lawyers should be paid by the State Prosecution.”

Shkelzen Maliqi, Secretary of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, says: “We have stopped payments for cases where lawyers are engaged without the prosecutor’s permission. Also a part of the payment should be done by the police of Kosovo.” In contrast, a spokesperson for the Police of Kosovo, Baki Kelani, says: “The payment of the lawyers ‘ex officio’ is an issue that belongs to the State Prosecution.” In addition, Baki Kelani did not give any information regarding the case where the lawyers are called without the prosecution’s permission.

According to Ibrahim Dobruna,“If the State Prosecution and the Police of Kosovo do not find a solution, the lawyers will hold a warning strike to warn the institutions.”

Many lawyers have been punished with a fee of 300 Euros because they were not attending the training sessions organized by the Kosovo Chamber of Advocates. 80 lawyers have been punished and if they do not meet the criteria, they will lose their license. The Chamber of Advocates does not give the punished lawyers’ names because of current regulations.