Tag: Kosovo

Among the things discussed were the conditions within the prisons across Kosovo. The debate also included discussions on people with political power who are in prisons, and the possession of weapons and mobile phones in prison.  To discuss these issues, Justice in Kosovo interviewed the head of EULEX Correctional Service, Stephan Johnson.

Stephan Johnson is from United Kingdom. He worked many years in the Prison Service in Wales and England as a senior officer and prison security officer. Mr. Johnson initially worked as a United Nation Mission in Kosovo officer, from 2001 to 2004. He returned to Kosovo in 2008 and he is currently the head of the EULEX Correctional Unit.

In 2001, Mr. Johnson worked for UNMIK in prisons of Dubrava, Lipjan, and Prizren. Mr. Johnson says that there are many differences comparing current time prisons with the prisons in 2001. One of the main differences is that the international prison administration has stopped and the EULEX only monitors and supports the Kosovo colleagues.

“We have to admit and recognize that the Kosovo Correction Service is a young institution”, said Mr. Johnson. He also mentioned that there are many challenges that Kosovo Institution, in this case Correctional Services, has to overcome.

In addition, “the conditions in Kosovo Prisons are acceptable and are the same as the prisons in the region. I hear many times negative comments about the prisons, but I must say that people have to stop and think how much has Kosovo achieved in the last years”, added Stephan Johnson.

Moreover, the staff working in Correctional Services is doing a tremendous job, but their job is not an easy one. Their job is very difficult to perform because they are exposed to intimidation and dangerous threats. Mr. Johnson also mentioned that in Kosovo Prisons there are some Influencing Prisoners and they exert a certain amount of pressure on the staff of Correctional Services. Such state of affairs associated with threats was attributed to be one of the reasons why the staff might hesitate to accept that there is smuggling into the prison.  The Kosovo Correctional Service is expected to manage the prisoners that could not be caught by the Kosovo Police and could not be judged by Kosovo Judges.

Something that is worth mentioning is that the prisons of Kosovo need more financial support, said Johnson.

Finally, in England every person that wants to join the Correctional Service should pass through national services. Their background is checked by the national services to make sure that they do not have previous criminal convictions and to make sure that they broke no law, said Mr. Johnson.

Justice in Kosovo also contacted the former director of Dubrava Prison, Haki Maxharraj, and asked him if there is misuse of the prison leaves.

 “At that time, when I was the director of the prison, the weekend leaves were given based on the law, more precisely the article 95 and 96 of the Law on Execution of Criminal Sanctions”, said Haki Maxharraj.

 

In 2005, how did Endrit Suka from Bllaca, near Suhareka, die while he was playing with his friends? Who was the truck driver who hit the 8-year-old boy? What was his mother, Fatime Suka’s reaction after she received the news that her son was dead? Why hasn’t this case been solved eight years later? Why were the investigations for this case stopped? What does the prosecutor of Basic Prosecution in Prizren say? Why, according to the representative of the injured party, were investigations dropped without the police and a medical examiner’s report? What were the recommendations of a report by the Ombudsperson? Why did the Ombudsperson request to start the investigations about three justice officials in this case? What does the head of Prosecution’s Disciplinary Office say?

On March 25, 2005, Endrit Suka lost his life as a result of an accident while he was playing in his neighborhood, in the village Bllaca, Suharekë. As soon as he got home he ate and went out to play with some friends. “After 30 minutes they told me that my son was dead,” said Fatime Suka.

The suspected perpetrator of the accident is Dritant Derguti, from Rahovec. Derguti said that while he was driving he saw a young boy lying in the street and he was around 70 meters behind: “I did not notice anything. 60- 70 meters after I stopped and I saw the dead body on the left side of the road. I don’t believe that I was the one who hit the eight-year-old boy.

After the accident, Durguti was detained for 22 days. After the detention, the prosecutor of this case, Hashim Çollaku, who at the time was the Prosecutor of the District Prosecution in Prizren, decided to close the investigations related to this case.

The Suka family claims that they were never informed about the investigation closing and that the prosecution had no right to stop the investigations. The lawyer of the injured party, Sabrie Sylaj, explained that “There was no report released by the police or forensic medicine. The investigations were stopped only based on one witness and the traffic expert’s expertise.” Based on the penal procedure, all the evidence should be taken into consideration such as the police report and the forensic medicine report.

Sylaj claims that she did not see the police report or forensic medicine report, and neither did the Suka family. Current head prosecutor Hoxha claims that the Suka family received the notification regarding the closure of the investigation: “We have evidence that the Suka family has received the notification, but later we found out that Endrit’s father was sick at that time,” said Hoxha.

Since Fatime Suka lost her right to complain because the notification was submitted to an individual in poor health, the Basic Prosecution in Prizren Endrit’s mother another chance.  However, even the second chance was not successful because the head prosecutor, Sylë Hoxha, had wrongly guided Fatime Suka to press charges in the Municipality Court of Prizren.

The head of the Basic Court in Prizren, Ymer Hoxha, says that the Municipality Court of Suhareka was obliged to delegate the case to the District Court of Prizren. After all these procedures, the Suka family exceeded all the legal deadlines to ask for justice regarding their son’s death. However, Fatime Suka was not ready to give up, and she decided to address the Ombudsperson, Sami Kurteshi. Now, Kurteshi asked to recommence the investigation.

Based on the data of Kosovo Judicial Council, in 2012 the court treated around 8,000 cases concerning dangerous traffic conditions. 3349 were resolved, whereas 4613 were left unresolved.

Justice in Kosovo also prepared a short report about inheritance review through notaries.

This has made it possible for citizens to win the right on their inherited cases in less than one hour. Citizens previously had to wait for months before their cases were looked at due to the overload of court cases.

Arbena Shehu, head of Kosovo Notary Chamber, explained: “The notary reviews the inheritance faster than the court.”

The following questions were asked: How were two people that are wanted by Interpol able to change their first and last names? Did they change their names to escape prosecution? What do the officials in charge have to say? What measures have been taken to prevent this from happening again? Who did the police catch? How did the suspects manage to change their names at the Municipality of Prishtina?

Enver Aliu, a suspect involved with contraband containing narcotic substances, has successfully changed his identity in the Municipality of Vitia. Interpol is seeking his arrest. Aliu changed his name even though those under legal investigation cannot change their name or surname. His new identity card released on the May 11, 2012, states that Enver Aliu is now Mehmet Mjaku.

Aliu had no right to change his identity under legal investigation. In 2008, the law for personal names was enforced and states that individuals who want to change his or her name or surname should not be linked to a legal investigation:

“This person is known to the anti-narcotics unit and there is data, which shows that this person is involved in activities that have to do with the narcotics market,” said the spokesperson of the Ministry for Internal Affairs, Ivo Kotovski.

To verify if Enver Aliu and Mehmet Mjaku are the same person, Justice in Kosovo checked the personal number of both persons and they both had the same ID number. The Police of Kosovo also confirmed that it is the same person: “The person that you are referring to is wanted by the Macedonian authorities,” said Baki Kelani, a spokesperson for the Police of Kosovo.

After Aliu changed his identity, the Police of Kosovo could not find him, and neither could Interpol. Even those living in the Dobresh village, where Aliu previously lived, do not know Aliu or Mjaku.

The Municipality Administration Sector of Vitia with the decision number 03-201/245/2012 approved Aliu’s request, even though there is an international arrest warrant: “We have requested data from the Court of Vitia who verifies that this person has no penal precedent,” said the Head of Administration in Vitia, Besim Halimi.

The officials in the Municipality of Vitia say that they went through all the legal procedures.

Skender Shefkiu, the director of Basic Court in Vitia, said that in court there are no data for persons who are wanted by Interpol and this is the reason why Aliu has been endowed with evidence that he is not under investigation.

Aliu is not the only one who has changed his or her name under investigation. A similar case was found in the Municipality of Rahovec where Muharrem Mazreku changed his name to Ilir Berisha. The Police of Kosovo declared that Switzerland released an international search warrant for Mazreku.

In these cases, changing identities happened because the municipality procedures for the change of identity did not require police certification.

For this reason, the Ministry of Internal Affairs decided in July 2012 that the municipality requires that the Kosovo Police provides them with evidence before identities are changed.

According to municipality officials, the new procedure created conditions that denied some individuals the applications to change his or her identity. The Head of Administration in the municipality of Rahovec, Samir Mustafa says that there have been two cases were individuals were denied the right to change his or her identity.

Around one year ago, the Kosovo Government made the decision to stop grit exploitation in the regional rivers. This decision was signed by the Prime Minister Hashim Thaci. Thaci put in charge the Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals to implement the decision. However, the lakes continue to be exploited.

On March 23, 2011, the team of “Justice in Kosovo” accompanied the mine and environment inspectors while they were confiscating an excavator from the river bed.

After identifying that the unlicensed excavator belonging to Arben Rrustemi exploited grit in the Gllaviqice village, the inspectors’ team confiscated the excavator. While they were transporting the excavator, a bulldozer, which was parked in a company Vellezerit Rrustemi’s parking lot, attacked them to destroy the excavator.

The regional inspector, Refki Morina, who was part of the action, said that he felt threatened by the owners of the excavator and they told him that he would be in danger if he did not help take the excavator back. “That same day, Arben Rrustemi and two other persons followed me while I was going back to Prishtina,” said Morina.

Morina also said that the case was sent in to the police station and the police confirmed it. He was threatened by the Rrustemi family not just once, but several times. The Kosovo Police has pressed penal charges and has sent the case into the prosecution of Peja, according to a spokesperson from the police unit in Peja.

Such threats have forced Refki Morina to stay home. He said that the institutional problems now have become familiar problems because he is scared to leave home without having family members nearby.

People who illegally exploit grit from the rivers usually begin working at 4:00 PM because inspectors finish their shifts during that time and the inspectors do not have the chance to catch them in the act.

Nuredin Bislimi, Head of the Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals, said: “It is very difficult to monitor them all the time because the inspectors are threatened and they should be accompanied by the police all the time.” He also said that the sentences for the companies are not being executed because the court is postponing the cases.

“Justice in Kosovo” also prepared a short report about the agreements regarding the guilty plea.

In this report, the case that occurred on June 14, 2013, in the Basic Court of Peja is being reviewed. After two court hearings, former judge Kolë Puka was sentenced to a year and a half in prison. Kolë Puka was accused for misusing his official position. Puka has made an agreement with the case prosecutor Ali Rexha.

The case judge has the right to make an agreement with the suspected perpetrator if he accepts the crime and the court will reduce his or her sentence.

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.