Tag: Kosovo

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.

 

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.

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.

 

 

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.

The families Rexhepi and Avdiu from the village Mikushnicë, in Skenderaj, have been fighting each other for 13 years now. The violence between these two families still continues and even the state institution and the blood feud mediators could not stop it.

Moreover, both of the families are tired of fighting one another and now are seeking peace through state institution and even from the traditional way of problem solving, but until now none of the alternatives have had any good results.

In 2001, Agim Rexhepi was the neighborhood representative for the allocation of aid in the Mikushnica village. He told Justice in Kosovo that the fight with Avdijaj started after he had a conflict with one of the members of Avdiu family.

“Avni hit me with an iron rod. Some men that were present during our fight became our mediators. I’ve gotten serious injuries during this conflict and from that moment there was no tranquility between our families. Many fights happened between our family member and we cannot stop it anymore,” said Agim Rexhepi.

In 2013 these two families had two additional conflicts. The first one was when one of the Rexhepi family members, a seventeen-year-old boy, was attacked on his way to school by one of the Avdiu family members. His attacker works as a police officer in the Kosovo Police. The police officer injured the young boy by hitting him in the leg and also pointed a gun at him and threatened to kill him, family members say.

The Kosovo Police spokesperson in Mitrovica, Avni Zaiti, told Justice in Kosovo that they have received reports of this violence, but some of them have passed the statute of limitations and others could not be followed up on due to lack of evidence.

The second conflict in 2013, happened on May 16th. The conflict was caused by the reports against Mehdi Avdiu that the Rexhepi family submitted to the Kosovo Police .

Police officer Mehdi Avdiu sought to again harass the young man, Ekrem Rexhepi, when he was returning home from school. However, Ekrem hit Mehdi and almost killed him. the prosecution suspects that the boy was helped by his cousins, but Ekrem says it was only him that attacked Mehdi Avdiu.

According to the prosecutor Vahide Badivuku, Ekrem Rexhepi was released after three months because he is still a minor, but this does not mean that he will not be ultimately sentenced. Ekrem’s cousins, Milaim, Arton, and Pajtim Rexhepi, are being held in jail because they are adults. Pajtim Rexhepi was working the day of the incident, and his family has told that to the police, but he is still being held.

The former general director of Kosovo Police, Behar Selimi, in cooperation with the judo trainer of Kosovo Police in Vushtrri, Shain Behrami, tried to get the two families to reconcile but they failed.

Murat Bislimi also made an effort to reconcile, but he said that as time passed their hostility became even worse. He said that the old customs should not be forgotten but the law should always come first.

 

In 2011, the Kosovo Government banned the gravel extraction from domestic rivers. The November 2nd, 2013 decision stated that “the law will be valid for three years from the day that law is first implemented.”

The decision, signed by the Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, assigned the Commission for Mines and Minerals, the Kosovo Police, and other institutions to implement and enforce this law.

In 2013 the owner of company “Elezaj”, Bedri Elezaj from Klina, told Justice in Kosovo that some officials asked him to give them money in order to help him.

Part of Mr. Elezaj’s company was closed at the end of 2011 because of the government’s decision. Mr. Elezaj started to build a concrete mixer near his company, but in order to put the concrete mixer in function he needed the permission from the Commission for Mines and Minerals.

Mr. Elezaj was warned by the inspectors that he was not allowed to put the concrete mixer in function if he exploits grit illegally. He said that the inspectors never found him exploiting grit, but the inspectors flattered him and told him to sign a document which he did not understand.

In addition, Mr. Elezaj realized too late what he signed and called the head inspector Nuredin Bislimi who told Mr. Elezaj that the fee can be from 5 thousand to 50 thousand euros and that he should be careful.

Meanwhile Elezaj decided to notify the police about this case because he was tired of being pressured.
Two days after the meeting, the head inspector Bislimi and the inspector Lulzim Çitaku visit the “Elezaj” company. Mr. Elezaj, in cooperation with Kosovo Police, gave Nuredin Bislimii 1,000 euros. The police immediately arrested the head inspector Bislimi and the inspector Citaku for the penal act of bribe taking.

In addition, evidence from Mr. Elezaj are being used as the main proof against two inspectors. The case prosecutor of this case, Shpresa Gashi, told Justice in Kosovo that she made an agreement with Nuredin Bislimi. Mr. Bislimi pleaded guilty therefore he will receive a lower punishment of 6 months – 1 year in prison.

The lawyer of Nuredin Bislimi, Bajram Tmava, said that her client admitted guilt for bribe taking and during the whole process he was defended in silence.

The other inspector, Lulzim Citaku, pleaded not guilty on the grounds that he did not know that his supervisor was asking for bribe. This was confirmed by Citaku’s lawyer, Mahmut Halimi; whereas the prosecutor Gashi who dealt with this case said that according to the evidence, Citaku knew about the bribe. She said that the prosecution is also investigating other inspectors who took bribes.

As usual, Justice in Kosovo also broadcast the clips recorded in cooperation with the Kosovo Police. “Security in Traffic” was the action of the police in this clip. A Kosovo Police officer talked about the number of accidents: 32 accidents occurred during 2013 and 37 people died in these accidents.

The number of accidents is higher during winter; therefore the Kosovo Police conducted an operation to ensure that all citizens have winter equipment for their vehicle. During the clip, the Kosovo Police stopped a few vehicles that were speeding and some that did not have winter equipment for their vehicle.

A two floor building on the road Hamez Jashari in Ferizaj was demolished by the municipality authorities in 2009. The municipality expanded the road and one year later they made an agreement with the owner of the building to compensate him by giving him three shops downtown.

The demolished venue was owned by Naser Mustafa who earned approximately 1,000 euros per month renting the venue. Three years have passed and Naser Mustafa was never compensated. The reason that the municipality did not compensate Naser Mustafa was that the former mayor of Ferizaj, Bajrush Xhemajli, released an announcement on the 14th of January, 2010 in which he cancelled the agreement with Naser Mustafa.

Naser Mustafa alerted the authorities about the cancellation of this agreement. The prosecution opened an investigation but closed it.
The case prosecutor, Florije Salihu-Shamolli, said that the investigation may start again because the Mustafa has offered new evidence.

“Meanwhile the damaged party presented an additional document (the decision of the former mayor Xhemajli). We consider that it is necessary to collect new evidence, therefore we have authorized the investigative unit for economic crimes,” declared the prosecutor Salihu- Shamolli.

Justice in Kosovo contacted the former mayor of Ferizaj, Bajrush Xhemajli, and he declared that at that time many buildings were demolished and he did not remember this case.

“To be honest, many buildings were demolished during my mandate and I do not remember this case. The Urbanism Director, Qazime Vata, is the most relevant person to talk about this because he always consulted here before taking a decision about city planning,” said Bajrush Xhemajli.

The legal official, Jahir Zuka, was authorized by the mayor Xhemajli to sign the agreement for the property compensation with the citizen Naser Mustafa.

“I was the authorized by the mayor Xhemajli and I signed the agreement. I do not know why this case was not finished. The most relevant person to talk to about this is the urbanism director,” said the legal official, Jahir Zuka.

However, the urbanism director Qazime Vata said that the mayor is the one that makes the final decision regarding compensation.
“We realized that we cannot find any solution at the Ferizaj Municipality, so we decided to contact the judicial authorities,” said Fatmir Bajraktari, the lawyer of Naser Mustafa.

In November, 2013, Fatmir Bajraktari pressed charges against the Administrative Issues Department in order for the citizen Mustafa to be compensated.
The Public Lawyer of Ferizaj said that someone should take responsibility for this case.

“I don’t know why everyone refuses to talk about this case, but it is necessary to take measures. The ones that breached the law will respond for these actions and I am saying this in the name of the mayor Agim Aliu because I am authorized to say this,” said the municipality lawyer Adem Aliu.

The damaged party, Mustafa, said that “the agreement must be kept and I should be granted with three venues downtown. If they do not like the agreement then they should return my property in the initial state. I have lost a profit of 40,000 euros since the demolishment of the building.”

Three persons who claimed they were offered money to vote for the Serbian Civic Initiative (GIS) were interviewed by the program. The interviewees wanted to remain anonymous because of legal reasons.

“People from GIS offered us 20,000 Dinars and required us to give them our ID. They also asked us how many members of the family we had and our cell phone numbers,” said person A.

The approximate version also includes person B, a witness from the municipality of Partesh. He claimed that he was offered 5,000 Dinars in four installments. Whereas the other witness said he saw some citizens of Partesh and Ranillug taking money for selling their vote.
“Some relatives of mine that do not have a car asked me to drive them to receive the money. When we went there many people were taking the money for their votes,” said person C.

The three witnesses told Justice in Kosovo that the case was reported to the police, but they complain that the police did not take any measures.
The Kosovo Police admitted that they received the complaints of these three citizens, but they also claimed the witnesses did not give the police exact information where these legal violations happened and who the persons involved were.

“The prosecutor asked them to give more specific information such as who was involved in the violation and where. They could not provide us this information, therefore we could not take measures,” said Shaban Azizi.

The prosecutor, Agron Uka, was present on the day this case was reported. He told Justice in Kosovo that during the first interview, the witnesses did not give us enough information to initiate an investigation. Uka said that he visited the place together with the witnesses but they were not able to give him names or other basic information.

Besides the accusation of buying and selling votes, there were also other problems in Partesh.
The voting center in Pasjan was destroyed on December 1. The director of security in the Municipality of Partesh, Miodrag Guzvic (SLS) was arrested in the case.

The police said that the arrest of the director of security in the Municipality of Partesh was based on facts. However, Guzvic’s colleague Goran Jancic, said that this could be a mistake made by the prosecution.

However, Zoran Nikolic, brother of the candidate for Mayor, Dragan Nikolic, who is also part of this party said that the incident started after a phone call where the SLS militants found out about the results and they headed to the polling station.
However, after the polling center in Pasjan was destroyed, CEC was obliged to repeat the elections for three polling stations; these elections will be held on December 15th, 2013.

Moreover, one cameraman who was reporting for Puls TV was threatened and attacked by the people who destroyed the polling center. The director of Puls TV, Nenad Milenkovic, said that his cameraman was threatened and attacked. The person who attacked the cameraman asked him to destroy the material that he had recorded.

Besides the injuries of the cameraman, Marko Stankovic, Puls Tv also suffered a damage of 8,000 euros from the attackers.
Kosovo Police said that they have immediately pressed charges against five persons who are suspected to have been involved in this incident.