Category: News and Events

The investigation that appealed to the five-member jury was “Organized Tax Fraud,” which revealed that over 300 Kosovo businesses were involved in a tax evasion scheme through the use of shell companies. 

The three-part, 11-month investigation also revealed that the state prosecutor went after the shell companies, which had homeless and poverty-stricken people listed as owners, instead of the actual companies that benefitted from the scheme. After the affair was reported to the state prosecutor, he decided not to go after the businesses that were involved in tax evasion, and instead went after the vulnerable owners of the shell companies, who were unaware of the situation they were involved in.

Accepting the prize, Faik Ispahiu, the show’s producer and director of KALLXO.com, said that to this day the same prosecutor was handling the case, and instead of being punished, he was being rewarded with a trip to the US. The results of the investigation, Ispahiu said, are still ongoing.

This is the second time that Jeta ne Kosove has been awarded with a prize for investigative journalism by the European Union, after receiving an earlier award for the investigation into the “Stents Affair.” During the ceremony, Luigi Brusa, Head of Cooperation Section of the EU office, said that his organization is pleased to support people who support the principles of the European Union.

In their separate discussions at the BIRN Kosovo office, Delawie and Jahjaga each emphasized that producing in-depth analytical and investigative journalism on complex political, economic and social issues in Kosovo is an absolute necessity. They declared their appreciation for BIRN’s commitment to fighting endemic corruptive behavior in the country. They also applauded BIRN’s success in conducting the annual report on the monitoring of Kosovo’s courts, in which BIRN Kosovo and Internews Kosova monitors tackled challenges and shortcomings in the justice system.

U.S. Ambassador Delawie expressed his concerns about the imbalanced judicial system in Kosovo, emphasizing the need to combat the partiality and injustices within the system. He went on to congratulate BIRN’s efforts to continuously conduct analysis on corruption within the judicial system in order to assess its performance in respecting legislation and adhering to work ethics and procedural regulations. The Ambassador said that BIRN Kosovo, by producing top-quality, timely, and relevant coverage, is a trendsetter in Kosovo’s media landscape.

Similarly, Jahjaga voiced her concern that Kosovo’s justice institutions infrequently address high-profile corruption cases and instead focus on processing petty corruptive cases, for which soft sentences are often delivered. She congratulated BIRN’s efforts to focus on the treatment of corruption charges, analyzing the problems and obstacles faced in the war against corruption. Jahjaga, the first woman to be president in Kosovo, said that though she is keeping her options open regarding her future plans, there is one particular issue she is certain about: she will continue to work for the survivors of wartime sexual violence, which during her five-year mandate remained one of her main priorities. 

This year’s report reflects the monitoring of 600 court hearings across 26 courts in the country throughout 2016, including basic courts, the Supreme Court, and the Court of Appeal. Panel participants included BIRN Kosovo Director Jeta Xharra, Internews Kosova Executive Director Faik Ispahiu, Chief Prosecutor Aleksandër Lumezi, as well as representatives from the Supreme Court, the Prosecutorial Council, and the Judicial Council.

The author of the report, Petrit Kryeziu, summarized the report’s main findings, including delays on filing criminal charges from the police and the prosecution, failures to justify decisions on pre-detention, and flaws in the strategy for detaining suspects awaiting trial. One of the report’s general recommendations is that Kosovo courts need to work harder on improving the way they treat pre-detention cases. Another recommendation is that the Ministry of Justice needs to consider strengthening the option for alternative sentences, such as referring appropriate cases to mediation.

The report also revealed concrete examples of procedural violations in the judicial system during 2016. These violations included cases in which the defendant’s right to be informed in the native language was denied, unnecessary postponements of court hearings, and lack of court order during trials.

Internews Kosova’s Executive Director Faik Ispahiu expressed gratitude to the entire team who contributed to the making of this project and emphasized that there have been over 50 monitors who worked on this project, some of which are now prosecutors, judges and lawyers. BIRN Kosovo’s Director Jeta Xharra added that despite the fact that the findings indicate room for courts to increase transparency, the ten-year collaboration shows that there is no rivalry between monitors and employees within the justice system.

Kosovo’s Chief Prosecutor Aleksandër Lumezi stated that he appreciates the findings and recommendations of the report and expressed his readiness to cooperate with the media. He emphasized that the flaws in the system will be improved upon and organized crime and corruption will be properly fought only through cooperation.

Please, click here to download report.

BIRN has also offered numerous internship opportunities to the students of University of Prishtina, helping to advance students’ professional careers. Dozens of law and journalism students were provided with opportunities to pursue professional experience at KALLXO.com, with a focus on training students and helping them to produce in-depth analytical and investigative journalism on complex political, economic, and social themes.

Through the cooperation agreement, law students will particularly benefit from such practical experience, during which they will be exposed to BIRN Kosovo’s methods of professional reporting, established to foster change in society while upholding accuracy, fairness and balance.  

Since BIRN is engaged in court monitoring, which aims to reduce wrongdoings spotted within the judicial system, the students will be familiarized with the methods used to identify  irregularities. According to the University’s rector, interning at KALLXO.com—as a bona fide source of objective, unbiased, and accurate information—provides an excellent opportunity for building the students’ personal and professional skills.

BIRN also strongly believes that these internships will equip students with the necessary skills to develop investigative, impartial, unbiased and publicly beneficial reporting in Kosovo. As BIRN is widely known for offering meaningful exposure to on-the-ground work experience, it plans to also provide students from other public universities across the country with similar internship opportunities, in order to expand students’ knowledge of the necessary skills to flourish in a diverse and multicultural work environment.