Category: News and Events

Head of Prosecution in Prizren, Syle Hoxha, who is already working on this case, explained that they still do not have verifications. According to Hoxha, detailed investigations are observing the conditional release and the massive absence of these cases:

“The state prosecution initiated the case and we took the first investigative actions. In the case, the penal act was committed by the people who helped them avoid prison and the sentenced persons,” said Hoxha.

As for the terminated cases, Head of Kosovo Judicial Council, Enver Peci, confirmed that disciplinary prosecution office of this institution will start investigating possible breaches: “We are waiting the results from this office,” said Enver Peci.

The statutory limitation of a case, also known as “the death of a case,” happens when the court does not reach a sentence within a particular amount of time. The deadlines vary depending on the penal act.

“Justice in Kosovo’s” investigation released some new findings about the massive statutory limitation of cases in court such as the Mitrovica prosecution where 1500 cases were under statutory limited, which means that the perpetrators will not serve their sentence.

The officials of the Judiciary of Mitrovica say that the statutory limitation of these cases is a result of malfunction of transferring the North court to Vushtrri after independence in 2008.

“We work in Vushtrri based on the Declaration of the Independence in difficult conditions. It is reasonable that the cases are statutory limited,” added Head Prosecutor of Mitrovica, Shyqyri Syla.

“The fact that many of the criminals in Mitrovica avoided their sentences is breaching human rights. This influenced crimes rates and now they are higher because people saw that the criminals are not being sentenced and they are not afraid anymore,” said Syla.

The Judge Kada Bunjaku-Perquku said that these statutory limited cases damaged the victims and suspected people: “now they cannot practice their rights.”

“Justice in Kosovo” also prepared a short report about the performance of offices of the judicial and prosecutorial council.

In order to enhance the quality of work in courts and prosecutions, domestic courts have decided that in the framework of the judicial and prosecutorial council, particular commission will be established to evaluate each prosecutor and judge.

“The regulation for judges’ performance has planned all the procedure of evaluating a judge,” said Emine Mustafa, Judges’ Performance Evaluator.

 

How many times narcotic substances found inside of this center? How were golden necklaces stolen from the prisoner’s deposit? How could credit cards reach the prisoners? What does Minister Kuci say about this? Did the head inspector of the prison and the Kosovo Correctional Service send any reports to the Ministry of Justice? What did the Head of Kosovo Correctional Service declare? Has the prosecution started investigations for this case? Why did they change the director’s and deputy director’s positions?

The detention center in Prizren contained the following irregularities and misuse: use of drugs, hiding cases from the directorate staff of the prison, use of mobile phones inside the prison by the prisoners and access of phone cards, credit cards, cigarettes and food items.

“Justice in Kosovo” got the information from the officers that work in the Detention Center in Prizren and are not satisfied with the situation.

One of the cases happened on May, 21 2011 under Deputy Director Shaban Kamberaj, food was brought to the one of the prisoners by Osman Hoxhaj, who was a guard.

The director Miftar Ziba told “Justice in Kosovo” that he was aware of this case:

“Since the rules of the prison do not allow people to bring food or anything else inside, I had to suspend the officers. For the last case, I did not suspend the deputy director, but I warned him that next time will be worse.”

Morover, one of the officers told us that an employee was caught stealing outside of the prison: “Justice in Kosovo” has found the recording where one of the officers of the prison, who was wearing the uniform, stole from Ben-Af.

“I am aware that one of the officers, currently working in the transport squad, was caught stealing from Ben-Af. I totally agree that this person should have been fired,” said Ziba.

In addition, the prisoners from Dubrava prison have sent us a recording where they expressed their dissatisfaction about the living conditions in this prison and they criticized the general director of the Kosovo Correcting Service.

Among the questions discussed were: How many years of prison were given to Nazmi Mustafi? What was the sentence of the others accused? Why didn’t the court ever confirm that Mustafi took bribes? Why is Mustafi going to remain in detention? Whom did Mustafi accuse? Which one of the prosecutors is trying to protect his brother? Who visited Mustafi at his home? When did EULEX start to investigate this case? What evidence proved Mustafi’s guilt? What the strong evidence that is the basis for the case, according to the EULEX prosecutor?

A panel of the Basic Court of Peja sentenced Nazmi Mustafi, the former head of Anti-Corruption Task Force and the prosecutor of Kosovo’s Special Prosecution of five years of prison. Besides that, he will also pay a fine of 10,000 Euros and he cannot exercise any activities or official duty.

The co-conspirators of Mustafi, the Zherka brothers, were sentenced to four years of prison and fined 10,000 Euros; while, Mirela Ndoci was sentenced to six months of prison and fined 10,000 Euros.

Mustafi will be held in detention until the court gives its final decision. Meanwhile, he has the right to complain in the Appeal Court.

After the verdict, Mustafi accused Aleksander Lumezi, chief of appeals, of fixing the case in order to save his brother, Albert Lumezi, from investigations. He also accused the head state prosecutor Ismet Kabashi.

“There is no justice here,” Mustafi said after the verdict.

The EULEX prosecutor Cezary Michalczuk said he was also accused by Mustafi. “If he has any evidence or information for any set up, even in other cases, he could have send a report to the police or the prosecution in order to investigate them,” said Michalczuk.

“This is, simply, not true! If it was, he would have brought us evidence to prove his innocence. He never gave us any evidence related to this,” he added.

 

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.