BIRN Kosovo streamed its first live web debate on July 4. The debate on the amnesty law represented a new product for BIRN Kosovo, and it gained the attention of numerous viewers.
The guests were Daut Xhemajli – deputy minister of justice, Albulena Haxhiu – deputy from Vetevendosje, and Florent Spahija – legal advisor in BIRN. Also, prisoners from the prison of Dubrava were a part of the live debate through telephone.
This law has been opposed by some members of the opposition in the parliament, while the government said the law was crucial.
A prisoner from Dubrava said that they want to benefit from the law on amnesty just like the other prisoners from the region. “We are not asking get fully amnestied, but just for an acceptable percentage,” added the prisoner. He also claimed that they had a decent support from the government, but no support at all from the other parties from the opposition.
On June 20, “Justice in Kosovo” revealed that fugitives wanted by Interpol had changed their names in Kosovo. The programme found that four fugitives were able to do this because of a lack of coordination among authorities in Kosovo.
For instance, Enver Aliu, wanted on drugs charges, ,successfully changed his identity in the municipality of Vitia. He changed his name even though the persons that are under investigation legally cannot change their name or surname.
He changed his name to Mehmet Mjaku. “Justice in Kosovo” verified this by comparing his personal ID number.
The Police of Kosovo also confirmed that it is the same person. “The person that you are referring to is wanted from the authorities of Macedonia,” said Kosovo police spokesperson Baki Kelani.
There are three similar cases of fugitives that changed their names. Because of these occurrences, the Ministry of Internal Affairs decided in July 2012 that municipalities must require verifications from Kosovo Police when people petition to change names.
BIRN brought together its Steering Board and Assembly members for their annual meeting in Belgrade from July 9-12.
The meeting takes place each year in the Serbian capital to enable Board and Assembly members to discuss BIRN’s ongoing activities and its plans for strategy development.
During the three-day meeting, a new BIRN statute that was presented last year at the Board meeting and an audit of BIRN HUB was endorsed.
Ana Petruseva, one of the founders of the BIRN regional network and BIRN Macedonia, said: “This helps us get clear picture how to proceed with new and ongoing BIRN activities.”
Local BIRN directors presented also all their country activities and strategic and operational issues to the members of the Assembly.
The possibility of opening a BIRN office in Albania was also discussed.
BIRN is holding its annual Steering Board and Assembly meeting from July 9-12 in Belgrade.
The meeting is organised to discuss strategic and operational issues facing BIRN, ongoing programmes and plans for the future.
The Steering Board is composed of BIRN country directors. Each board member will make a presentation about country specifics and fundraising activities.
The Assembly brings together Tim Judah, author and Balkans correspondent for The Economist, Wolfgang Petritsch, Austria’s permanent representative to the OECD, Steve Crawshaw, international advocacy director at Amnesty International, Stefan Lehne, former Austrian diplomat and visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels, and Per Bymon, secretary-general of Swedish Radio and Television’s humanitarian foundation, Radiohjälpen.
Hasan Pristina University honoured former special envoys Christopher Hill and Wolfgang Petritsch on Wednesday with the title of Doctor Honoris Causa in a ceremony held at the faculty of philology. They were awarded the title for their contribution to the resolution of the Kosovo conflict.
Hill and Petritsch, who worked as the special envoys of the United States and the European Union respectively during attempts to stop the Kosovo conflict in the late 1990s, were honoured for their outstanding contributions to creating conditions for peace, justice, freedom and democracy and increasing opportunities for the development of education, science and academic freedoms in Kosovo.
The rector of Hasan Pristina University, Ibrahim Gashi, opened the ceremony.
“We were lucky to have you and your peoples as our friends during our worst, hardest time,” said Gashi.
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci praised the two former envoys for bringing together the Albanian political spectrum.
“Mr. Hill and Mr. Petritsch stood by Kosovo when Kosovo needed friends the most,” said Thaçi.
The two former envoys also addressed the gathering.
“Kosovo has changed a lot since the time when I was here. You cannot choose your neighbours, but you can live in peace with them,” said Hill.
“The European Union is facing many problems, but Kosovo is moving towards the EU,” said Petritsch.
Petritsch and Hill acted as mediators during the talks between Kosovo Albanians and the Yugoslav authorities at the Rambouillet Conference in 1999 before the NATO bombing campaign ended the conflict.
Petritsch, from Austria, is also a member of BIRN’s Regional Board.
BIRN has launched a special focus page on media in the Balkans – the first of its kind in the region.
All media-related news and analysis from the Balkans are now available on Balkan Insight’s Media Watch Page.
It features a brand-new analysis package on the media situation in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo, and Serbia.
It also features a regional analysis on the role of the EU. Some praise the EU for pushing for the adoption of media legislation that meets European standards. But others are more critical, saying that the EU should have been much more proactive in combating growing political pressures on independent media.
The launch comes ahead of the second ‘Speak Up!’ conference on June 20, at which the European Commission will gather hundreds of media experts from all over Europe to discuss media freedom in the Western Balkans and Turkey.
In its progress reports, the European Commission has repeatedly set out its concerns about restrictions on freedom of expression and the media in the Western Balkans and Turkey, noting that threats to freedom of expression also threaten the foundations on which the “union of values” is built.
In an effort to identify solutions, the European Commission’s ‘Speak Up’ conference is bringing together participants from international, regional and national media organisations, civil society, academia and national administrations.
A court has acquitted five defendants accused of staging a hate campaign in the media against BIRN director Jeta Xharra.
A mixed panel of Kosovo and EULEX judges found five defendants not guilty of threatening Xharra and violating her rights in May and June 2009.
They were the former mayor of Skenderaj, Sami Lushtaku, the former owner of Infopress, Rexhep Hoti, the former editor-in-chief, Avni Azemi, and two former journalists, Rizah Hajdari and Qani Mehmeti.
In 12 articles published by Infopress, Xharra was called a “Serbian spy”, a “professional bomb”, an “embassy slut” and subjected to other insults, the indictment said.
It said a campaign against Xharra was launched after Radio Television Kosovo, RTK, aired an edition of BIRN’s TV programme, “Jeta ne Kosove” (“Life in Kosovo”,) dealing with alleged mismanagement in Skenderaj/Srbica where Lushtaku was mayor at the time.
The court on Wednesday ruled the articles did not pose a threat to Xharra even if they damaged “her honour and reputation”.
“We did not find that the content of the articles were a coded threat,” Judge Vladimir Micula said.
Referring to threatening emails that Xharra and the BIRN office in Pristina received after the programme was aired, the EULEX judge said that “no link was found between the articles and those acts”.
The prosecution said it was unhappy with the verdict and would appeal. “It is necessary for a democratic society like Kosovo to do everything it can to protect the precious right of freedom of the press and punish those who undermine it,” EULEX prosecutor Maria Bamieh said.
“The threats and the defamation made against her had a clear goal. The accused wanted to scare Jeta Xharra and her team,” she added.
“They wanted to humiliate her and… get a critical and credible journalist off the table who had dared to criticize the political achievements of Mr Lushtaku, a very powerful politician and social figure indeed in Kosovo,” she continued
Xharra said of the verdict that she “never thought it would be easy but we won’t give up”, adding: “I encourage you [in the media] not to give in, to have a better media environment compared to what there is now.”
Xharra has already filed a libel case, seeking compensation from the former defendants.
Arianit Koci, lawyer for Lushtaku, described the verdict as “just and legal”. “It was a legal and professional battle,” he said. “Our arguments were stronger and it was proven that Sami Lushtaku did not threaten Jeta Xharra.”
Economists from Kosovo and Serbia debate the future of the disputed Trepca mine complex, in the new episode of the TV debate series “Tema”, produced by Internews Kosovo and BIRN.
Two economists from Kosovo and two from Serbia debated the economic potential of the disputed Trepca mining complex, which according to estimates could be exploited profitably for decades to come.
Panelists agreed that only dialogue can resolve the differences between Serbia and Kosovo over the half-defunct mine and restore production.
Radoman Rabrenovic, director of the Institute of Geology of Serbia, said the reserves of metal resources in Kosovo merit particular attention.
However, according to Rabrenovic, many political questions currently impede the revitalization of Trepca.
Trepca today shares the same fate as the nearby divided town of Mitrovica. In the south, the socially owned enterprise is managed by the authorities of Kosovo.
Assets in the north are managed by an administration installed by the government of Serbia.
The ethnic Albanian former director of Trepca, Nazmi Mikullovci, said that it would take less than 200 million euro to revitalize the company that he managed back in the 1980s.
“To produce metal, Trepca needs 174 million euro, according to a study we conducted in 2005. But the problem is not with money but rather the administrative division between the south and north,” he said.
“We need to overcome this this division and have Trepca function as one entirety; the investment funds are the least of problems,” he added.
The Trepca complex comprises an 80km-long and 30km-wide network of dozens of active and inactive mines, which are estimated to hold at least 50 million tons of exploitable ore.
Both sides agree that the revival of this industrial behemoth would benefit both economies, regardless of how the current political and administrative problems are resolved.
The deputy president of the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, Mihajlo Vesovic, said the risk of inappropriate and irrational exploitation of the resources should unite the interests of both Serbia and Kosovo.
According to him, low production levels in the company caused more trouble to Serbia than to Kosovo, as Serbian industry relied heavily on metals produced in Trepca.
Vesovic said the demand for lead and zinc, the two main ores in Trepca, was much greater in Serbia than in Kosovo.
The President of the Chamber of Commerce of Kosovo, Safet Gerxhaliu, said the impact of revitalization would be felt more in Kosovo than Serbia, as it would create at least 10,000 new jobs and exports worth around 300-500 million euro per year.
“In addition to 10,000 new jobs as a direct effect, there would be indirect employment as well, generating roughly over 20,000 jobs. This would have a very positive effect over the next 10-20 years in Kosovo,” he added.
The programme also discussed the economic interdependence between Kosovo and Serbia, where the two chambers of commerce challenged each other on the obstacles facing businessmen in the two countries.
Tema is produced by Internews Kosova in partnership with BIRN in Kosovo and Serbia and supported by the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The episode will be aired this Saturday, May 25, 2013, at 7pm on TV PINK 2.
The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network Kosovo and ARTICLE 19 have welcomed the draft law on the protection of journalists’ sources which was sent for its first reading by the Kosovo assembly’s media committee on April 19.
BIRN Kosovo has urged the assembly, which is to discuss the draft law on Thursday, to adopt the legislation with some amendments proposed by BIRN and ARTICLE 19.
Currently, Kosovo lacks the legal basis for the protection of journalists’ sources following the removal of previous protections. Kosovo’s constitution, criminal code and criminal procedure code do not regulate the protection of sources.
The draft legislation is based on Belgian law, which is considered one of the best such laws in Europe, but needs to be updated in order to take into account developments in the sphere of journalism.
Good legislation on the protection of sources has also been adopted in Armenia, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Georgia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania, and Turkey.
BIRN Kosovo and ARTICLE 19’s full recommendations can be seen by following this link.
On Sunday “Justice in Kosovo” discussed the elections of the Kosovo Judicial Council, KJC.
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? With how many votes has Peci become the head of KJC? 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,” Meka 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 of journalist Xharra was based on official documents.
Regarding 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 policeman was sentenced to five months imprisonment while the other to 14 months.
