Category: News and Events

Hasan Berisha a citizen of Gjakova told that he paid 20 thousand euro to get a stamp for registering his land in the Land Consolidation Office of Gjakova.

In 2005 Skender Sina was under accusation for getting 20 thousand euro to facilitate the procedures for registration of the land.

Berisha explained how the official of NSH “Gjeodezia” Skender Sina contacted him and proposed to pay and get the land land registration easily. They met in a restaurant in the Xerxa village and agreed together to resolve this problem.

Berisha registered the whole conversation he had with Skender Sina, having it as a guarantee when he gave the money, 20 thousand euro.
But both of them didn’t know that police officers were following the whole deal.

On November 2005, the indictment was opened from the prosecution of Gjakova against Sina for bribery.This case was transferred to the Court of Decan.

After 3 years Sina was announced guilty and sentenced to 1 year in jail by the Court of Decan.Skender Sina claimed on the verdict of this court. The Court decided that the voice recording needed to be verified on a professional laboratory.
And after this decision nothing was done, 8 years after the penal offense was committed.

Without the expertise, the court cannot take a verdict on this case
As this case is not being treated for several years “Justice in Kosovo” asked for responsibility for the responsibility for the obsolescence of the case, Ministry of Justice but there was no answer.

Hasan Berisha said that he had the information that his case will be intentionally left not proceeded to get old.8 days before the case expired the judge called for a judgment, Sina did not accept the verdict.

Hasan Berisha said that he is sure the case will continue to be delayed since it happened in the past.
The next court session will be on March, 3 of this year

 

The municipality of Mitrovica took the risk of paying millions of euros as compensation for the mistakes that were made in the contracts of a custom terminal and a college.

“Justice in Kosovo”, during the investigation found out that the municipality run by Avni Kastrati and Bajram Rexhepi gave both these two subjects the same property to use.

This land property is known as Ibri Island. In 2008 when Bajram Rexhepi was mayor of Mitrovica there was a decision where part of this land would be given to the International College of Business.One year later with another decision, the municipality decided to give this property to the DM Company.

In 2010, they realized they made a mistake when calculating the area of the land, and another decision was taken to take land from the college and give it to the company DM, where his company built the custom terminal. This investment cost around 3 million euro.

Even though the municipality of Mitrovica thought they resolved the problem in 2013, the new mayor Avni Kastrati released another decision taking land from the company DM, giving it to the college

DM Company sued the municipality of Mitrovica and the college is planning to sue as well.

Vice Mayor of the Municipality said that the contract signed with DM company is illegal because it does not have assembly approval.
Bajram Rexhepi and Avni Kastrati who were responsible for the contracts did not want to comment on the case.

The representatives of the college said that they found out that the municipality gave the same land to DM company in February 2013.

They sued the municipality for this situation and asked for compensation. They also informed the donors that the construction of the college will be postponed due to property problems.

The representatives of the college also informed the Ministry Of Education as it is one of the donors, and asked from them to clarify this issue with the Mitrovica municipality.

Ram Buja said that they contacted the municipality and got the answer that he was not aware that this case is now a court case.

Dardan Shala from DM Company said that the situation created is threatening their whole project and they are preparing all the documents to sue the Mitrovica municipality.

Moreover the conflict of land property created between the international college of business and the DM Company is not the only one. Part of the land that was given to the college according to documents is not the municipality’s property and it belongs to the Directory of Water.

Safet Kamberi vice mayor of the Mitrovica municipality said that former executives of the municipalities are the only one who should be held accountable regarding this conflict

 

 

 

The first action took place at a Klina police station. When the police heard that a shooting took place, they immediately investigated the area.

The police raided the house. After the raid they only found a hunting rifle with an expired license. The father of the suspect was brought to the police station, while his son that was under suspicion was not present during the raid. A case was created against the suspect’s father.

The police told him to come to the police station. After being interrogated by the police, he was released free with an order from the prosecutor and the case is under investigation.

The program continues with an action of the police patrol in Prizren. During this action, several people who didn’t respect the traffic rules received penalties.

Another case in Prizren was about domestic violence. After an anonymous call reporting domestic violence, the patrol went to the house of the family. After investigating the location, they found out that the husband had beaten his wife. They were brought to the police station and the case is under investigation.

A conflict between two families that resulted in several wounded people from the same region is the next case. After arriving to the location, the police officers noticed that many people were wounded. They immediately asked for medical support to help the wounded people, and collected evidence from the location where the conflict happened.

At the end of the program police took more action by confiscating the hunting rifle from a person in Prizren that was using it to hunt without a license.

In this program, major stories of 2013 were broadcasted and investigated by “Justice in Kosovo”.

The first story was about buying of votes in the Pasjan Village where people showed how they were contacted by different parties, offering them money to get their vote.

After the program was aired, the police reported that they arrested a Serbian guy who was suspected for buying votes.

In some cases, Prizren announced the winners of the bid before the legal deadlines were fulfilled.

After the program was aired, Alban Susuri the head of Procurement Office of Prizren was arrested and is under investigation.

Elections in the Judicial Council of Kosovo where another story broadcasted, “Justice in Kosovo” followed the debate on the election process of the head of Judicial Council.

Sali Mekaj member of the Judicial Council sent a letter during the session of the Council when it was stated that the election process was followed with a lot of irregularities that make this process illegal.

Enver Peci head of the Judicial Council said that he has no comment on Sali Meka’s complaint, and that he respects the decision taken by all members of the Council announcing Meka’s complaint invalid. Enver Peci was elected head of the Judicial Council in this election.

The next story is about the massacre of Krusha Justice in Kosovo reported on March 2013 about the investigation on war crimes in the village of Krusha.

Cezary Michalczuk the prosecutor of EULEX said that they are in tight collaboration with the Prosecution Office in the Republic of Serbia to get more evidences, also with the Tribunal of Hague and after evaluating all the evidences they will release arrest warrant for suspected people.

“Justice in Kosovo” investigated the story of Medicus hospital who was under suspicion for organ trafficking

The trial of Bajrush Xhemali was another case that occurred in 2013.There was debate on the Judicial Council of Kosovo regarding the verdict for judgment released by the Constitutional Court. Valdete Daka judge in the Supreme Court said that after this action the Constitutional Court became a fourth instance court. Enver Peci head of the Judicial Council said that we cannot judge the verdicts of other courts, in this case it was the Constitutional court.

“Justice in Kosovo” also followed the case of the law for amnesty. On the list compiled by the correction service there are names of people who avoided taxes, charged for murder, etc.

Fejzullah Hasani Head of the Supreme Court said that the Amnesty law presents a lot of dilemmas in the way that it should be implemented, and the correction services sends in the list names of people that have done penal offenses that are not included in the categories defined in the law for amnesty.

In the last part, there is a case that showed how people under accusation escaped the police and changed their names. After reporting the case of Enver Aliu who changed his name in the Vit municipality after the Macedonian Police were searching for him, responsible institutions started monitoring the backgrounds of those who asked for name changes.

The program continues with police actions on the narco trafficking in Shkabaj village municipalities of Gjakova, Pishtina.

The invasion of the Prizren police station by only one person raises serious questions about the institution’s preparedness to deal with public security.Security experts told Justice in Kosovo that the police should increase the level of security around its premises.

The armed perpetrator, Shefki Hallaqi, known as “Sheki,” entered the police station “Alfa”in the early in the morning. He held hostage all the people within the station hostage.After shooting several times with his Kalashnikov inside the station, Hallaqi left without being stopped, even though 6 officials of the police were inside the station.

After the policemen couldn’t manage to stop him, he decided to surrender himself the next day, and was detained.This incident raised many question regarding the level of security of Police institutions.

Security expert Nuredin Ibishi said that police should take immediate precautions to prevent such incidents.
According him, at the same time that Kosovo Police is involved in the war against terrorism and organized crime, they should also focus on improving security measures.

“A special law should be passed specifying particular measures for the security of objects of particular relevance” said Ibishi.
But according Ibishi, until the release of this special law, Kosovo Police should take immediate precautions to avoid the risk of another episode like the one in Prizren.

“The policeman that will be appointed to protect the objects should be well prepared and properly equipped,” he added.
But Kosovo Police, besides suspending the 6 police officials who didn’t manage to control the armed assailant, has not taken any other security measures.

This was confirmed by the vice director of the police, Naim Rexha, who told Justice in Kosovo that the measurements taken regarding this case were suspending the 6 police officials that were working that day. Rexha maintains that no further measures are needed.

Minister of Defense Bajram Rexhepi the public prosecutor is responsible for the security breach, because one night before the attack, he had been handcuffed.
Hallaqi had been arrested 10 times before that, suspected for penal offenses, attacking officials, and causing minor bodily harm.

According official records, several hours before attacking the police station Hallaqi was intoxicated and arrested after having destroyed a telephone booth in the center of Prizren. However, he was released by an order from the prosecution.

However Metush Biraj, head of the prosecution of Prizren said that the custody prosecutor was not aware of the fact that the Hallaqi had prior criminal records.

Also according Biraj the suspect was released after the police communicated with the prosecutor saying that this person didn’t present any risk if he is left to go home drunk.

But facts are showing something else, the report of the prosecutor Beqe Shala doesn’t match with the report of the police Hajredin Braha.
In a report provided from Justice in Kosovo, it’s obvious that policeman Hajredin Braha emphasized firmly on his official report that he made known to the prosecutor Beqe Shala that the arrested person Shefki Hallaqi was a recidivist.

However, according officials of prosecution and police will be impossible to verify which the truth of this case was because the phone call between the prosecutor and the police is not recorded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The invasion of the Court in North Mitrovica in March, 2008 left the judges and prosecutors of Mitrovica without offices.
After 6 years, they are still using the same building of Vushtrri Court. Shyqeri Syla, the head of the Prosecution in Mitrovica, said more than 20 people work in one office under extremely difficult conditions.

“We hope that by the end of the year we will move to our building in Mitrovica,” he added.

The Prosecution of Mitrovica has only one professional collaborator and a lack of working spaces and equipment.
“When one prosecutor has to interview a suspect, the other officials have to leave the office,” said Syla.

The Court of Mitrovica is in the same situation. The juridical process is held in a container brought by USAID.
Kada Bunjaku Perquku, the head of the Court of Mitrovica, said that for six years the court of Mitrovica has been held in the building of the Court of Vushtrri , a space that is not enough even for the lawyers of Vushtrri.

“In many cases we have to move to the Court of Skenderaj when there are no offices free in Vushtrri Court,” she added.

In many cases the judgment process has to be developed in the same space where other judges do their daily work.
The Court of Mitrovica is short 10 judges based on their caseload and they have only seven professional collaborators.

The dominant penal offenses are narcotic and traffic offenses.

The situation of the Court in Prizren is better than in Mitrovica.

Ymer Hoxha, head of the Basic Court in Prizren, said that they are doing a good job and the number of pending cases is decreasing.

“The judges exceeded the number of cases expected to be processed,” he added.
But the Court of Prizren still requires five more judges in order to function normally. They only have only nine professional collaborators for thirty-five judges. The lack of equipment is also a big concern.

The Prosecution of Prizren works with thirteen prosecutors. Syle Hoxha, the head of the Prosecution of Prizren, said that six more prosecutors are needed to function normally. She added that they only have one professional collaborator, and require six more in order to be able to function normally.

Syla said that they have also they have security concerns in the building of the Court.

 

 

 

The 50,000 current cases of the court of Gjilan are split among 31 judges. The prosecutors are in a similar situation, with one prosecutor presenting up to 30 cases
The head of the Basic Court in Gjilan, Zyhdi Haziri, said that the number of cases per judge is too high.

Jetish Maloku, the head of the Prosecution, stated that they need at least 15 prosecutors but only have 12.

“In the village of Kamenica and Viti, it is clear that we are missing prosecutors. Sometimes we only have prosecutors for one day a week,” said Haziri.

Cases of corruption are the most common in the Prosecution of Gjilan.

“We never had pressure to treat corruption cases from the center or from politics,” said Maloku.

The prosecution of Gjilan has five professional assistants for 12 prosecutors. They still they do not have their own building; they are located in a private building.

The Court and Prosecution of Ferizaj deal with the same problems.

Bashkim Hyseni, head of the Basic Court in Ferizaj, said that the number of cases has increased but the number of judges remains the same.

The situation is worse for the Prosecution of Ferizaj.

Agron Qalaj said that there are only 9 prosecutors, but they should have double that number based on the number of cases.
“We have unresolved cases but we are trying our best to make this number lower,” said Hyseni.

“We are waiting for two more prosecutors but this will not improve the situation that much,” said Qalaj.

“In the village of Kacanik the Prosecutor is present only twice a week and Shterpce only once a week,” he added.
The most dominant offenses are prostitution and trafficking of narcotics.

Peja is one of the regions with the highest level of crime in Kosovo.
“Our politics regarding penal offenses are really good, but the court cannot follow suspected people. We can only treat the cases when we have an indictment,” said Elmaze Sykaj, head of the Basic Court of Peja.

“Our problem is the small number of judges,” she added.

Galani, the head prosecutor of Peja, said that sensitive murder cases are under the control of special prosecutions. Peja has 11 prosecutors and 36 judges.
The lack of professional assistants is also a big problem in the court and prosecution of Peja . The Prosecution doesn’t have any collaborators and the 36 judges have only 7 professional collaborators.

A similar situation is present in Gjakova. They have a small number of prosecutors overall and only two prosecutors for the crime department. The number of prosecutors cannot handle all cases brought to them.

The Basic Court of Gjakova has the same problem. Vaton Durguti, the head of the court, said that they did their best with only 12 judges.
“Taking in consideration the number of cases, we will need 5 more judges in the court of Gjakova,” he stated.
“Cases of corruption and bribery are the dominate cases in Gjakova,” Bakija said.

Another problem the court and prosecution of Gjakova both are facing is the lack or small number of professional assistants. The prosecution of Gjakova doesn’t have any professional assistants at all. The court of Gjakova has only 5 professional assistants.

During a big operation, the Kosovo Police confiscated 18 kg of Cocaine and arrested four people. The total value of the confiscated materials and drug was valued at around 1 million.

The operation, code named “Kokaina,” was extended within Kosovo and along the border with Albania. During the operation money, mobile phones, guns and 18 kg of cocaine was confiscated. The police also discovered an illegal laboratory for cocaine production.

The operation began at the border point Albania-Kosovo with the arrest of someone trying to smuggle 7 kg of cocaine into Kosovo using his car.

As a next step, the police raided a house in Peja where they discovered the illegal laboratory for cocaine production. There they seized 18kg cocaine, 8 liters of chloridric acid, 246 liters of acetone, and equipment from the laboratory.
Among the 4 arrested, one was an American citizen thought to be an expert on cocaine production.

Because of the quantity of cocaine seized, this is considered to be the largest operation of the narco-trafficking department in Kosovo. This operation was part of a bigger one, extending into Albania where 7 kg of cocaine, 18 kg of heroin, and 150 kg of marijuana were confiscated.

 

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.