Category: News and Events

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.

Abdullah Limani, of the Kosovo Public Procurement Regulatory Body, said that this procedure was against the law for tenders. “What happened to tender for the supply of food items in Prizren is against any procurement standard,” Limani said. “Supplies, works or services must not be performed once, and then the procedure.”

Fatmir Kastrati, of AAK, said he used his 100 Euros to buy goods at Ben-af. “The decision of assembly was lawful, but then the procurement law was violated and this is not the problem of municipal councillors,” Kastrati said.

The LDK’s press office Prizren reacted with a statement, according to which, without even meeting the legal terms of procurement, the municipality prejudiced the tender winner; therefore, eliminating real competition and violating the law.

Abdullah Thaci, LDK spokesperson, said “the municipality identified the winners themselves and just then formally announced tenders.”

NaimCahan, an official of the organization KDI, said that, based on the calculation of this organization, the sum of 43 600 Euros would have been sufficient to give 80 Euros to 45 families with social cases per month and annually.

Legal Officer of Ben-af, Besnik Kuqi, claimed that the firm had fulfilled “all the conditions required for the competition” and that it had won the tender.

Acting chief of the procurement office in Prizren, Alban Susuri, said that the contract has not been signed because the municipality has no money for it.

However, the municipal spokesman Ymer Berisha said the decision was taken in accordance with the municipal assembly procedures.

“Some officials, including the mayor, have not used the funds,” said Berisha. “I would like to confirm the citizens that we are within the normal practices of decision-making.”

Among questions discussed were: Why was Shkelzen Pruthi excluded from his inheritance? How could his siblings exclude him from the legacy in a process that was held in Municipality Court of Prishtina, in Graqanica’s branch? How could three members of the family give a false declaration? What kind of offense did they commit in this case? Why was the Judicial Council unaware of the article 135 of the law of non-disputable procedure?

Shkelzen Pruthi, currently living in the U.S., was excluded from his inheritance in 2010 because of his siblings’ false declarations. Shkelzen, from Prishtina, is the eldest son of Faik Pruthi who was originally from Gjakova. Faik Pruthi died in 1981. In addition, Shkelzen Pruthi was not included in the transaction when his siblings sold their father’s house, located in Sunny Hill, Prishtina, for 250,000 Euros. The son of Shkelzen Maliqi, Edmond Maliqi raised penal charges against his uncles and aunt for excluding him from his inheritance.

Moreover, BIRN’s research shows that there were many irregularities that resulted in excluding Shkelzen Pruthi from his inheritance. Edmond Pruthi says: “The inherited house was sold from my uncles and aunt and they excluded me from the inheritance.” The judge reviewing this case, Nenad Laziq, was not aware that Faik Pruthi had four inheritors. According to Laziq, based on the article 135 of the law of undisputed procedure, the court has drafted the death act based on the declaration of the three inheritors. “Before they declared that they are the only inheritors, I warned them that if they do not tell the truth, they will be accused of breaching the law” says Laziq.

Enver Peci, Head of the Kosovo Judicial Council, says that he was unaware of this legal possibility and he promises that the Council will ask for a legal stance, which requires the death act to be released by the registrar officials, thus this procedure will avoid any irregularities regarding inheritance.

Even though Blerim Pruthi, Fitore Pruthi and Gazmend Pruthi have sold the house to a third party, Shkelqen Pruthi has already started the procedure of cancelling the transaction contract. He believes that his father’s inheritance will be returned to his family and will be divided equally. This procedure was started in the Basic Court of Prishtina and is being reviewed by Judge Zenel Leku.

Among the questions discussed were: Why did Zejnepe Buzhala claim that police officer Fadil Shishani occupied her apartment? How is it possible that after twelve years the Buzhala family came back to the apartment that Fadil Shishani occupied? Why did the court support this family to return to this apartment and why is the judge on this case intimidated by Shishani? How was the police officer accused? What does Fadil Shishani say about this accusation?  

Judge Skender Zariqi claims that he felt threatened the day Shishani was removed from the apartment. The situation began in 1999 when Shishani occupied the apartment where Buzhala once lived. Buzhala claimed that she was required to leave the apartment during the war. The apartment was given to her for an indefinite amount of time and she has all the proper documentation, which was released by the Center for Preschool Education.

“When we came back from England, in 2001, it was impossible to settle in our apartment because there we found Shishani’s family”, said Buzhala. She made an agreement with Shishani to let them stay in her apartment because they did not have anywhere to go, and they signed a contract. Shishani does that they occupied Buzhala’s apartment because they had no place to stay after the war. According to him, they did not know who the owner of the apartment was and he also confirmed that he signed a contract. Two years later Mr. Shishani went to the municipality to ask for the apartment and found out that the apartment does not belong to Buzhala.

To resolve this issue Buzhala was addressed to the court. The court decided that Shishani family should leave the apartment because their evidence was not taken into consideration. The decision was going to be implemented on September 3, 2012, but the implementation was impossible because Shishani threatened the parties in the court. “Shishani said on the day that the decision was implemented, the Buzhala family and Ibrahim Dobruna, the lawyer of the family, will suffer the consequences,” said Buzhala.  The intimidation was taken into consideration especially since Shishani is a police officer.

In addition, Shishani was charged for intimidating the Kosovo Police Inspectorate. On the other hand, Shishani denies that he intimidated the judge or the parties of the court.

The decision was implemented on September 12, 2012, and the Buzhala family returned to the apartment for only five days. After five days, the apartment was taken from the municipality of Drenas claiming that the apartment belongs to the municipality.

 

Among the questions discussed were: What is happening with the judiciary in Kosovo? Why are the judicial sessions being postponed? What do judges say about this situation? Why are judges skeptical about which code of penal procedure should be used in judicial reviews? Were the judges and prosecutors trained before implementing the Code of Penal Procedures? Was there any interpretation given from the highest instance? What do citizens and the advocates say about this judiciary standoff?

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network monitoring team found out that during January around 20 sessions were postponed in the municipalities in areas like Prishtine, Gjilan, Mitrovice, Peje and Prizren.

The new system reforms have surprised the judges because it happened rapidly: “We knew that the reform was going to happen but none of them saw the Code of Penal Procedure until the beginning of this year,” said Elmaze Syka, Head of Basic Court in Gjilan. The new Code of Penal Procedure increases the role of the prosecutor and decreases the role of the judge.

In addition, there was no training held for the new procedures: “The problem is that we cannot all be trained and leave the court without judges. We will have a meeting with all the judges and we will find a solution,” said Syka.

Despite the problems that the judges’ face, all the courts of Kosovo should implement the new Code of Penal Procedure according to the Supreme Court of Kosovo. Head of the Prosecution of Basic Court, Syle Hoxha said that this code came to power without training sessions: “The postponement of trials is the main problem because it is affecting our job and it seems that this situation is going to last for a few more months,” said Hoxha.

Postponing trials has directly touched the citizens and the defendants. Shukri Krasniqi, a defendant from Prizren, said, “My trial has been postponed twice. They say that the codes have changed and this is causing us problems because we have families.” There are many severe/serious cases that are being postponed. The judges have not explained why the trial was postponed.

The changes of penal code have also brought some change to criminal offense sentences. Until now the maximum sentence was 40 years in prison, but from now and on the maximum sentence is a life sentence.

Lavdim Krasniqi, the Head of Judiciary Institution in Kosovo, says that all courts in Kosovo will be trained starting February.

 

In January 2013 BIRN published its fifth court-monitoring report, which covered from January 2012until December 2012. The data in this report were incorporated as a result of monitoring the total of 1,441 trials, of which 1040 trials were held. The main findings of BIRN are categorized into twelve points and refer to different problems, ranging from monitoring cases of corruption, procedural violations, violation of the parties rights during the hearings, to the use of mobile phones during the period of trials.

The corruption cases that were monitored have shown that there are still some ex-ministers who were charged but were faced judgement. Moreover, they showed a lack of transparency and professionalism, such as uniforms or proper translators, are still present in courts.

Statistically there was a slight improvement in the courts from the previous years. In 2010 the percentage of unannounced sessions was 50.1 per cent while in 2012 this decreased to 22.4 per cent. Also unlike in 2009,when 59.9 per cent of sessions started late due to the delay of the court or judge of the case, the cases monitored in 2012 notice an improvement with only 33.08 per cent of sessions starting with delays.

BIRN held a press conference to show the monitoring results. Representatives from judicial and other institutions were present, including Kosovo’s Judicial Council, Supreme Court, State Prosecutor; the Ombudsperson, representatives of embassies in Kosovo, OSCE representatives, EULEX and civil society.

The Chairman of the Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC), Enver Peci, commended BIRN for its performance, and added, “it has targeted the areas where the judiciary should engage more.” He also discussed that due to monitoring by BIRN, KJC started disciplinary proceedings against judges who have made procedural violations and isdoing its best to address these issues.

The President of the Supreme Court, Fejzullah Hasan, said that BIRN helped to highlight errors and omissions, which were impossible for them to investigate on their own. He also said that it is unfortunate that schedules were disrespected and uniforms were not used. He also added that there were procedural violations found by the court itself: “The party has told us that the judge has not even been present during the sessions, but in the records he or she is written as present.”

“I was pleased while reading carefully the report by BIRN and I would like to congratulate you for the actual findings which are welcome in our work,” said special prosecutor Besim Kelmendi. He also addressed criticism about the prosecutorial system in terms of the unpreparedness of prosecutors. Moreover, he encouraged BIRN to continue the monitoring of the courts.

Diane E. Tourell, a legal analyst of OSCE, complimented the report of BIRN and stressed that the OSCE is also concerned about procedural violations and welcomes such reports in the future.

 

Among the questions discussed were: What were the police actions during 2012?How many kilograms of narcotic substances were confiscated? What were the statistics of confiscated narcotic substances, of traffic accidents and of confiscated weapons?

The police had many actions during 2012. Some people were arrested during these actions. During the first action the police arrested one suspected person but they could not find two other suspected individuals. The three persons were suspected of committing severe crimes.

The second action concerned illegal weapons. Six persons were suspected and only two were arrested. Two weapons were found, and one of them was illegal. The action was considered successful.

Moreover, the amount of illegal drugs found in Kosovo in 2012 was significantly higher than in 2011. In 2012, 1,300 kilograms of drugs were confiscated. The types of drugs confiscated were: marijuana (1200 kilograms), heroin (92 kilograms), and cannabis plants (10,000). “Justice in Kosovo” cameras were present during three actions where 400 kilograms of marijuana were confiscated.

During one of the actions of the Kosovo police, in Junik, two police officers were injured because they faced resistance while arresting suspects. The two police officers were sent to the hospital in Peja.

The police responded to a report of family violence – a father and mother who were beaten by the son. Medical treatment was offered to the family. Another case included a woman who was beaten by her boss. Two suspects and the victim were sent to the police station. The victim was offered medical treatment.

Among the questions discussed were: Who were the accused former ministers this year? Who was declared guilty to corruption? Why is Kosovo still found among the first states in the list for corruption in region? How many millions of Euros were misused by ministers this year? Which judges were bribed in order to announce unlawful decisions?

In 2012, ministers visited the court because they were accused for misusing their official titles. Among the ministers who misused their power are: Slavisa Petkovic (former Minister for Community and Return), Branislav Grbic (former Minister for Community and Return), Valton Beqiri (former Minister of Culture), Astrit Haraqia (former Minister of Culture), and Bujar Bukoshi (former Minister of Education Science and Technology). Some of the cases now are closed and some of them have just opened. Another very important accusation was the deputy and minister Fatmir Limaj who is accused of violating several laws. Fatmir Limaj continues being trialed.

Another important event was the suicide of Dino Hasanaj, the Head of Kosovo Privatization Agency. The case was closed as a suicide, but the prosecutors are still investigating the reasons behind his suicide. The case of Hasanaj revealed that the ministers were involved in the privatization process.

In addition, there were also some judges who were accused of taking bribes to announce unlawful decisions. Two of the most important cases include the former Head of District Court in Vitia, Drane Simani, who was caught in a meeting of a political party, and Judge Miodrag Pavic who was caught taking bribes.  In this affair, the prosecutors were also included. One of the prosecutors was Nazmi Mustafi, the special prosecutor for corruption, who was suspected in taking bribes in order to release the accused individuals from prosecution.

Another scandal that is worth mentioning is when documents in Peja were stolen. Also, 25 kilograms of gold were confiscated from the police and were missing from the evidence room.

It was also found out that even in Prizren’s prison many irregularities happened. Some of the irregularities were: contraband of drugs, use of mobile phones in prison, personnel stealing from the prisoners, personnel mistreating prisoners. The head of the prison in Prizren did not confirm any of the accusations or irregularities.

BIRN discovered that some policemen were taking bribes and accusations were submitted in the prosecution.