Category: News and Events

The Story about Stolen Votes

On May 25, 2014, Justice in Kosovo discussed regarding the precautions taken by the institutions to avoid votes being stolen.

State institutions are taking precautions to avoid votes being stolen during elections.
Thousands of police, 100 prosecutors, and 7 judges will be working on election day to protect the votes of citizens.

The court system is coordinating with other institutions during the election. “We have selected 7 custodian judges for the elections,” said Enver Peci, head of the Kosovo Judicial Council.

Lawyer Dastid Pallaska said that the court has been doing a good job, but the biggest problem is taking action toward the groups that organize to steal votes.
Seladin Nikqi, an ex-commissioner sentenced to jail for misuse of votes, refused to tell names of suspected people; he denies that there was crimes at all.
He said he was sentenced for the manipulation of 425 votes but he denies to have done these.

Flutura Kusari from BIRN pointed out that the parties whom the commissioners broke the law to help deserted the commissioners at the first sign of trouble.
She further added that commissioners are solely responsible for their crimes and so should be very careful in following the law.

Former commissioner Nikqi told all commissioners to be careful in their work to check where and what they sign onto during the election process.

“There is a trend of election crime improving in sophistication,” said Kusari. “That’s why the prosecution and the police should be careful and use also hidden measurements of investigation.”

On December 9, 2013, Justice in Kosovo reported that citizens in Partesh were confirming the suspicion that money was offered to them in exchange for their vote.
The police arrested people in Partesh only one day after the program Justice in Kosovo was broadcasted.

A similar case was tried in the city of Gjilan. Mejdi Selmani, observer of PDK, tried to convince the Serbian community to vote for PDK’s candidate. As a result, he was sentenced to eight months in prison.

 

A Marital Dispute

On May 18, 2014, Justice in Kosovo discussed about a martial dispute.

Adem Ymeri is suffering because of his son’s problems with the law. His car was confiscated by the court.
All started in October 2006 when Hysni Ymeri married L.A. He abandoned her immediately after the marriage because according to him, the bride was not virgin.

The girl went to the court, presenting a medical report to prove she was in the right.Consequently, the Court of Kamenica fined Hysni Ymeri 650 euros for slander.

Based on the law for compensation, L.A went to the court again, which obliged Ymeri to pay L.A. 5,000 euros in compensation.
Hysni Ymeri has not yet paid the compensation, so the court seized the car of his father, Adem Ymeri.

Ymeri said that the car was taken unfairly because he is not responsible for his adult son’s actions. The car is registered under Adem Ymeri’s name and he does not know why the court seized his car.

Zijadin Spahiu from Kamenica Court said that the procès-verbal of confiscation came from the basic court of Gjilan.L.A declined to comment on this case while the court of Kamenica is waiting for the verdict of the Appeal Court. This verdict will decide whether the Court of Gjilan was correct in confiscating Adem Ymeri’s car to as compensation for the damage caused by his adult son.

Private executor Fadil Hoxha said that this is something prohibited by the law, ”The father is not responsible to pay for the damage caused by children older than 18-years-old,” he said.
“Even though the car is used by the family, it is the private property of the person that has registered the car,” he added.

Selami Rexhepi, the lawyer for Adem Ymeri, said that the car should be returned to his client because Adem Ymeri is not responsible for Hysni Ymeri’s actions.

The second subject treated on this program is a fight between police officers in Ferizaj.

On May 11, the special unit policeman stopped a car but discovered they did not have the tickets to write down the offense. They asked a police officer from the patrol unit to write down the penalty.

During this process, disagreements arose and the two engaged in a physical fight.Now the case is being investigated by the Kosovo police inspectorate.

The program continues with an operation of the Kosovo police in Prizren arising from a tip to the station about a shooting.
After investigating the area and taking evidence, the police went to the station to complete the case.

Besim Doesn’t go to Jail

On April 20, 2014, aired an investigation of Justice in Kosovo showing how a defendant manages to avoid the sentence to prison.

Besim Rexhepi was sentenced in 2009 by the Municipality Court to 18 months of probation. In September, 2003 Rexhepi endangered citizens with his Volkswagen Passat.
Driving too fast, he lost the control and struck another vehicle. Ymer Hajdari was badly injured and his wife Nexherije Hajdari died in the hospital as a result of the accident. Their two kids were also wounded.

However, Rexhepi is still free today because his sentence was put on statutory limitation as the police failed to properly arrest him.
Rexhepi denies responsibility for the accident, and cites his mother’s illness at the time of the crash as being a contributing factor.
For two years he lived in France, Macedonia and Albania escaping from the police.

The investigation from the Life in Kosovo newspaper proved that during this period of time Rexhepi attended an electoral meeting of PDK party in Kosovo. He denied having been a part of this meeting.

But in a photo that the newspaper has provided, Rexhepi is sitting next to Zenun Pajaziti the former Minister of Internal Affairs, Fehmi Mujota the minister of transports and Nexhmedin Arifi the former Major of the Municipality of Viti.

Pajaziti, now deputy of PDK, said that doesn’t remember this person, while the minister Mujota refused to comment. Nexhmedin Arifi former Mayor of Viti said he remembered only seeing Rexhepi in Remnik village during the electoral campaign.

Samir Reka head of INPO said that this case creates the idea that political subjects protect their members from the juridical verdicts.

 

The Court Forgets the Arrest Warrant

On April 13, 2014, Justice in Kosovo aired a case of the court in Prishtina they forgot to issue an arrest warrant on an emergent case.

In 2012, Hakif Baraliu was wounded in Prishtina. His suspected assailant has escaped from the police.
Baraliu was shot five times and fortunately, all five bullets missed vital areas.

The suspected person was never processed by the court even though the prosecution asked for arrest warrant as an emergent case.

For 17 months the police couldn’t arrest the alleged shooter because the court did not issue an arrest warrant as requested by the prosecutor.
Baraliu has asked for accountability from the institution.The suspect in this case is Baraliu’s son.

The prosecutor, Idaim Ismajli, who in 2012 recommended the arrest warrant declined to talk on camera. He released a written statement where he admitted he didn’t know if the court accepted his recommendation for an arrest warrant.

Abdurrahim Islami, another prosecutor on the case, said that he accepted the suspect was free for 17 months because of the lack of arrest warrant. He added that when they took control of the case, they realized the arrest warrant from the court was missing.

Regarding this, Islami asked for explanations from the court. and made a request for an arrest warrant.

“Immediately an arrest warrant was released which proves that it was never released before,” said Islami.
The head of the court, Hamdi Ibrahimi, confirmed through email that the court had already released the arrest warrant without explaining why it was not released on time.

The second subject of this program is the wage gap between judges and prosecutors.

The prosecutors in Kosovo are paid 138 euros more than the judges based on an order of the Prosecution Council of Kosovo.
This difference in salaries has caused dissatisfaction among judges, who have called for an increase in their pay. The prosecutors refused to comment.

Gezim Baxhaku, the adviser on the Ministry of Finance, said that the salaries of judges and prosecutors are defined in decisive way.

He also explained that, according the law of Courts and the law for State Prosecution, the head of the Prosecution and the head of Supreme Court have salaries equal to the prime minister’s, while according to him the state prosecutors and the judges of the Supreme Court havel salaries equal to the ministers.

The judges still hope for their salaries will increase.

The Kidnapping of Vonesa 2

On April 6, 2014, Justice in Kosovo aired the second part of the kidnapping story of Vonesa by her ex-husband.

After the previous kidnapping story was broadcast on the Justice in Kosovo TV program, Ilir Kuqishta contacted the Justice in Kosovo crew and asked to talk about the story.He said that he wanted the public to know the truth.

He admitted to have beaten his ex-wife twice because she was not taking proper care of their daughter.
He denied having kidnapped her and said that he only accompanied her. He also admitted to using the gun to scare the family but said that it was shot accidentally.

Vonesa explained that when she entered the car, she thought she was going to dieIlir brought her to the village of Smir to his uncle’s house, where they stayed for 10 minutes.Ilir talked to his uncle, who decided to help him, and they went together to a house in Dobrech village where they made plans to send her to Macedonia.

Kuqishta said he called somebody to help him cross to border.

Florie Shamollli, a prosecutor in Ferizaj, said that the morning after, they and the police immediately attempted to arrest Kuqishta. They failed to catch him before he crossed the border.

Ilir took Vonessa in a taxi toward Macedonia. They stopped in Kacanik for Ilir’s mother and uncle to bring the daughter.
Near the border they met a person that helped them to cross the border illegally.When arrived in Skopje, they went to the apartment of a friend of the ex-husband’s.
Ilir, Vonesa, and the daugher after 20 minutes went to the house of Ilir’s friend, where they stayed for 4 days.

A friend informed Ilir that the police were looking for him, so Ilir decided to return to Kosovo again illegally.
They arrived in Kacanik where Ilir called a taxi to bring them to Bregovc village.

Ilir convinced Vonesa to go to the police and declare that she was not kidnapped. When she arrived home told her family what really happened they called the police again.

The next day Kuqishta was arrested by the police.

This case is now being handled by the Crime Prosecution of Ferizaj.Ilir Kuqishta is now under house arrest waiting for a verdict.

 

The Kidnapping of Vonesa 1

On March 30, 2014, Justice in Kosovo aired the kidnapping story of Vonesa by her ex-husband Ilir Kuqishta.

A 20-year-old mother tells the story of how fate saved her daughter when she was kidnapped by her ex-husband.

This story started in September 2013 when Vonesa decided to end her marriage.Her ex-husband could not accept her decision and tried to force her with threats to return home to him.

Vonesa reported all threats to the police but she says they failed to protect her.On the night of October 20th the ex-husband kidnapped her and tried to kill her family.

Vonesa married at 18 to an older man, Ilir, and from their union came a child. But immediately afterwards, problems started. Ilir had health problems and also problems with his business; he used to run a casino. He started to have financial problems and began beating his wife.

Financial problems caused him to force Vonesa to sell all of the gold she received as a bride.
Ilir beat Vonesa out of jealousy and frustration with personal financial crises. Vonesa consequently decided to move in with family and divorce Ilir.

The ex-husband went to her family begging her to turn back and took Vonesa’s the daughter with him.Vonesa then decided to go to the police and tell the whole story.
When she turned from the police station she got a text message from the ex-husband threatening her.

The case was sent to the prosecution by the police.
Basri Shabani, head of the police of Ferizaj, said the case was sent to the prosecution in a timely manner after completion of the investigation.

When questioned by the police, the ex-husband, Ilir Kuqishta, denied having threatened or kidnapped his ex-wife.

The prosecutor Veton Shabani said that the complaint was reviewed and sent to the court.
The victim’s lawyer Ibrahim Terrstena said that he asked for detention but that is not reflected in the file of this case.

For more than two weeks the institutions did not take any precautions to protect the Vonesa.
Terrstena said that he had no contact with Vonesa or the prosecution after the indictment was opened.

The ex-husband Ilir went armed to Vonesa’s house. He grabbing her and threatening all her family with a gun. He fired the gun to scare the family member and took Vonesa with him.
He took Vonesa into his car and left.

Statutory Limitation of Court Cases

On March 23, 2014, Justice in Kosovo aired a case of the court of Peja District that was at risk of expiring and passing out of the statute of limitation.

Skender Sina was accused of taking a bribe while he was working at the Gjeodezia company. He took 20,000 euros from Hasan Berisha in favor of registering properties bought by him.

In 2005, Sina was sentenced to one year in prison by the Municipal Court of Decan, but Sina appealed the sentence and it was suspended.

Two years later, the court of Peja District decided to reexamine the case because of previous mishandling of the case. The claimant’s recordings were not sent to a forensic laboratory.

The case was at risk of expiring and passing out the statute of limitations.
“We sent a request to the Ministry of Judicial for judicial assistance because if the recordings are not examined by the laboratory, then this case can not be resolved,” said Elmaze Syka, head of Peja Court.

The Ministry of Justice responded one day after Syka’s statement:
“On 17th December 2012 we received a request for international judicial assistance from the court of Gjilan regarding the expertise of a recording considered as evidence in a juridical contest by this court. After accepting this request, we decided that this is out of the range of our abilities; we transmitted it to Turkey but we have not yet received an answer.”

The Court sentenced Skender Sina to one year of prison without having the results from the laboratory, evaluating that it wasn’t essential. The judge, Syl Lokaj, declined to comment on this verdict.

The prosecutor, Agron Matjani, called the decision to go forward without the results to be institutional negligence.
Matjani said this case should not have taken 10 years; it should have been made a priority because it was a corruption case.

The Head of the Juridical Council of Kosovo Enver Peci said that they were aware that the case was in danger of passing out of the statute of limitations and that this episode is very disturbing.

 

 

Property Misuse

On March 16, 2014, Justice in Kosovo aired the story of misuse of public land in the municipality of Prizren.

Ramadan Muja the Major of Prizren was sentenced by the Court of Prizren for the misuse of public land. He was sentenced to 2 years of conditioned prison and was banned from holding office again for 30 months.

Kadri Ukeimeri and Minir Krasniqi, the head of Cadaster and the head of PDK in Prizren respectively, were also part of the group in the municipality of Prizren sentenced for misuse of public property.

Krasniqi and two others took ownership of properties of the municipality of Prizren with a Supreme Court decision in 2008.
Muja ordered Ukeimeri to not pass the property to the municipality of Prizren for Krasniqi to make a use of it.

The property of Sharri Woods was given to the educational center “Gulistan” by Muja. It was previously the property of the Property Agency of Kosovo.
Muja is also accuse of giving land to the chocolate factory “Kamilla” free of charge.

These officials of municipality of Prizren were sentenced as below:
Muja was sentenced 2 years of conditioned prison and being barred from office for 30 months. Minir Krasniqi was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months of conditioned prison. Kadrie Ukimeri and another official Sadik Paqarizi were both sentenced to 8 months of conditioned prison.

Immediately after the trial, Muja didn’t declined to comment on whether or not he would resign but the next day he held a press conference to announce that he will not resign..

Muja’s lawyer, Bahrie Besimi, said that the entire case was a political scenario created by political rivals.

The prosecutor, Natasha Vicary, stated that “Any claim that this is political scenario is ridiculous.”
“We are satisfied with the decisions of the court,” she added.
“The officials of the local governance should be discharged from their duty in cases like this one,” said Bekim Saliu from Gap Institute.

The Kosovo Agency of Property told Justice in Kosovo that their properties changed hands in other municipalities like they did in Prizren.
“Misuses of properties are made public in all their reports,” said Besnik Osmani, secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Administration.

In the following part of the program there is an interview with the lawyer of Bajrush Xhemajli, Tahir Rreci, that doesn’t agree with the sentence of the court regarding the traffic accident caused by Xhemajli.
He said they will present a claim and wait for a verdict from the Appeals Court.

Violence in Schools

 

On February 2, 2014, “Justice in Kosovo” discussed violence in schools.

Parents of school-violence victims told “Justice in Kosovo” about how they reacted upon learning that their children had been hurt.

The father of Astrit Syla, the student who died last week the Arkitekt Sinani school in Mitrovica, said his son was not involved in any conflicts before the incident.

“My son was never involved in any conflicts, even the people that knew himcan confirm this”said Syla

Whereas, Mon Hajrizi, the father of the suspected perpetrator explained that the conflict started on Facebook. “A day earlier they talked to each-other on Facebook and my son told me that they offended each other,” said Hajrizi.

The father of Gynaj Novoberdaliu, who was killed in front of Medical High School in Prishtina in 2007, complained the judicial process concerning the person accused of killing his son has lasted a long time and has yet to conclude.

Meanwhile, the victim of the last incident at Poklek primary school in in Drenas showed “Justice in Kosovo” wounds he sustained in a screwdriver attack.

The programme also looks into to reasons why these incidents happen.

The director of the school where Astrit Syla was killed told “Justice in Kosovo” that this school has been facing ongoing troubles with violence and lacks a psychologist. Also, there are only two police officers in Mitrovica who deal with violence in schools.

Investment Insecurity

 

On January 26, 2014, Justice in Kosovo discussed about the investment insecurities in Kosovo.

Bab Club is one of the most frequented clubs in Prishtina but it is built on illegally occupied property.

The property was privatized by Rhevat Sadriaj, who works in real estate and insurance in Switzerland. The land is being occupied by Rrustem Rukooli, owner of Bab Club.

This property is located near the Grand Hotel. Sadriaj’s property is now a business area used by the company “R and Rukolli”, won more a than 5 million euro bid from the municipality of Skenderaj and around 15 million euro from other public authorities.

Rukolli is also coordinator of the security team of the mayor of Skenderaj, Sami Lushtaku, who is in EULEX custody, accused of war crimes.
Sadriaj, a partial owner of the company COEB which bought the property in 2011 from Property Privatization Agency, has no access to his property.

Property Privatization Agency and Mr. Rukolli had a deal which gave Mr. Rukolli the right to use this property till the moment that it was privatized. When it was privatized, AKP informed the holder that the property was sold, said Mr. Ylli Kaloshi, a spokesperson of the AKP. He added that from that moment, SKP had no obligation toward investors to liberate the properties.

If the investors have problems with the properties they can present the case to the court, says Kaloshi.
Sadriaj paid 147,000 euros to buy this property. The whole history began at the platform of Grand Hotel that used to be public property.

The documents of AKP showed that the 3 places where Bab Club was built used to be property of the public enterprise Rilindja.
Sadriaj bought this property in 2011 with a bid of 147 thousand euros. After receiving the ownership papers, Sadriaj visited the property. There he realized that it was being used by Rrustem Rukolli, the owner of “R and Rukolli.”

According to Sadriaj, Rukolli offered to by the place at the same price but Sadriaj refused. After this, Rukolli told Sadriaj that he will have to deal with God. Sadriaj also said that Rukolli refused to pay rent for using the property for 2 years.
“I told him that my Swiss partners don’t want to sell the property, thats why you have to pay the rent, but after this he didn’t answer the phone anymore,” said Sadriaj.

The lawyer of Rukolli Arianit Koci does not deny the possibility that Rukolli offered to buy the place from Sadrijaj.
“It’s possible; there is nothing bad in offering to buy the place. In fact with this offer he recognizes that the property belongs to Sadriaj,” said Koci, juridical representative of Rrustem Rukolli.

Justice in Kosovo reached out to Mr.Rukolli for comment, but he referred them to his lawyer, Mr. Arianit Koci.
Koci said that his client does not know which part of the place is owned by Sadriaj, and that’s why he is waiting for a court decision.

According to the officials of AKP, Rukolli knew precisely where the borders of Rilindja were.

The biggest problem is that Sadriaj’s Swiss partners have started to feel insecure about their investments in Kosovo.

Justice in Kosovo also prepared a short report on legal changes in the Kosovo Chamber of Advocates. From December, 2013, every citizen that chooses a lawyer to protect him or her will know if the lawyer has a criminal background.

The Kosovo Chamber of Advocates decided to publish all the disciplinary decisions for advocates/lawyers.
From the moment that a citizen needs a lawyers, they can look in the Kosovo Chamber of Advocate to see if there is any open disciplinary file for that lawyer.