Tag: Kosovo

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.

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.

Abdullah Limani, KRPP expert, 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, AAK, claims that he used his 100 euros to buy in Ben-af. “The decision of assembly was lawful, but then the procurement law was violated and this is not the problem of municipal councilors,” Kastrati said.

The LDK informing department in 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, the information department of the LDK, said that “the municipality identified the winners themselves and just then formally announced tenders”.

Naim Cahan, 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 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. It is the duty of the municipality of Prizren to reason the documentation given to Ben-af.

Acting chief of the procurement office in Prizren, Alban Susuri, said that the contract has not been signed because the municipality has no means. And he added that he has no clue why these groceries were bought in Ben-Af by the administration.

He noted that although Ben-Af wondered the tender, the contract has yet to take effect because the municipality doesn’t have the money to pay 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 withdrawn the funds,” said Berisha. “I would like to confirm the citizens that we are within the practices of decision-making”.

There are also other problems with the same content in Prizren. Opposition parties which were interviewed have criticized the municipality that since 2009 has invested about 900 thousand euros for the construction of the cultural center in Zhur, but it is not finished. The construction of this object, according to the contract between the Municipality of Prizren and firm “Elshani”, should have been finished within a period of 150 days. So far, they have spent about 800 days.

Florin Beqiri, director of local government audit in the Office General of the Auditor in Pristina, said the facility had been audited and found that its construction had not been foreseen at the procurement plan.

Revelations of the legally suspect contract come as Prizren faces a corruption scandal.

In February, a prosecutor from the EU rule of law mission, EULEX, indicted the mayor, Ramadan Muja, and five other municipal officials for corruption involving the illegal use of municipal land. Muja has dismissed the allegations as politically motivated.

Prosecutor Michalczuk, when asked about the start and proceedings of investigations towards Krusha e Vogel answered “We have officially launched investigations in late May of last year. Exactly 31 May 2012. At least, the number of suspects reaches number 56, for now.” Also he claimed that they cooperate with Serbia and ICTY in The Hague.

Michalczuk is optimistic towards finding evidence, even though fourteen years have passed since the massacre. “Once completed the process of gathering evidence, we will, first, talk to the perpetrators individually accountable for their individual actions, and then issue the arrest at a proper time, if we collect enough evidence”, says Michalczuk.

According to Michalczuk UNMIK have not done any kind of investigation regarding this massacre. However, Mr. Salgado – UNMIK, through a letter towards “Justice in Kosovo” wrote that there were some findings from UNMIK but all was handled to ICTY in The Hague.

Eduard Gold, head of unit for war crimes in EULEX, claims that the investigations have started from 2008 by EULEX.

“The case of Krusha e Vogel actually began when EULEX received mandate in 2008. The difficulties we had in this case been, at first, of course, the period of transition from UNMIK to EULEX, for a while”, said Gold.

When asked about the time that these investigations could take, Gold added: “There is a lot of information about the suspects, even for 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 in between people in Krusha e Vogel. One of the survivors claim that the investigations are done unprofessionally and feel skeptic whether the aggressors will pay for their crimes.

“For two days Krusha e Vogel lost 102 people. First Day on March 25 has lost nine people, while a second day another 102 people missing, “says Agron Limani, director of the association “26 March 1999”. Moreover, the distrust among the population became even higher when UNMIK promised that the aggressors will be imprisoned but did nothing.

In summation, apart from the massacre in Krusha e Vogel, many massacres took place in Kosovo during the war of 1999 and are waiting for the attackers to pay for the damages.

The prosecutor Cezary Michalczuk has worked in Poland as a prosecutor for fifteen years. He claims that his main reasons for coming in Kosovo are his idealism and his desire to share his knowledge for the greater good.

Asked why he decided to come in Kosovo and leave his decent job in Poland he said “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.” This logic applies about his coming in Kosovo.

Also, Nita Amin who has worked in UK for twenty eight years has a decent background as a prosecutor since she had dealt with various crimes in the United Kingdom.

The third prosecutor, Philip, was a defense counselor, depute judge, and a public prosecutors for eighteen years. His main reason for coming in Kosovo is because of the so called “seconded” – a temporarily transfer from his own country.

 “In Kosovo, in terms of the crime I deal with similar criminal acts [as in the United Kingdom]: murderers, aggravated murderers, unlawful possession of weapons, human trafficking etc.” added Amin when asked about the types of crimes that are under her department.

In regard to the collection of evidences towards the attacks that happened on 14-17 March 2008, Amin added “Well, as you know, the events took place 14th – 17th of March 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 added that one of her tasks is to find out more suspects since the investigations are still open.

The Task Force was created by UNMIK since the attacks against KFOR soldiers happened in Mitrovica from 14-17 March, 2008 and its mission is to investigate, arrest and prosecute serious crimes.

An international officer was killed during this crime event in Mitrovica, where according to Amin that issue is still open and the murderer is not found yet.

“Justice in Kosovo” emphasized that there were 10 Kosovars killed in 2000 in Mitrovica and asked whether there are any investigations done towards it. 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.” The same answer was in regard to the question about the crimes that happened during 2004.

Referring to the case of the murder of Selver Haradinaj, Amin implies: “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.”

In conclusion, Task Force mainly deals only with the incidents that happened towards the KFOR soldiers and there are six suspects. Regarding the incidents that happened in 2000 and 2004 this is not under their department and these cases are not solved yet.

The newspaper’s reporter Parim Olluri was named the best journalist of 2012 by the Association of Professional Journalists of Kosovo for a number of investigative stories published during the year.

‘Gazeta Jeta ne Kosove’ won most of the annual awards given out by the Association’s jury this year.

The ‘best culture story’ award was given to Jeton Musliu for the article ‘Kosovo Textbooks Soften Line on Ottoman Rule’ and Virtyt Gacaferri won the prize for the best sports story with ‘The Match That Showed Many Albanian Realities’.

The Kosovo daily ‘Koha Ditore’ was awarded for publishing the best economic and social feature, written by Vehbi Kajtazi and Visar Preberza, while Agron Halitaj won the award for the best political feature.

Jeton Llapashtica from another Kosovo daily, ‘Zeri’, was given the prize for writing the best investigative story, while photographer Ridvan Svilova got the award for the best photo.

Private television broadcaster Klan Kosova received two prizes, with the channel’s Naim Selmani receiving the award for the best sports feature and Ilir Hasani the award for best camerawork.

The roundtable involved the United States ambassador Tracy Ann Jacobson, Kosovo’s justice minister Hajredin Kuci, Michelle Lakomy from the US Department of Justice and several media and civil society representatives. 

Jacobson expressed her dissatisfaction with the justice system and suggested that everyone involved in it needed to work harder and with greater commitment in order to strengthen confidence in the judiciary.

Jacobson referred to the case of Diana Kastrati, who was killed by her estranged husband, saying the municipal court in Pristina showed a lack of responsibility by not issuing a protection order within 24 hours despite her request for one. 

The case was seen by many of the roundtable’s participants as a critical example of the justice system failing Kosovo’s citizens.

Kuci also admitted the judiciary was dysfunctional and said it should increase its transparency and accountability.

Kusari meanwhile addressed a range of problems that citizens as well as journalists face on a daily basis, including the lack of spokespeople for the Kosovo Judicial Council and the Kosovo Procurement Council as well as the outdated web-sites of relevant institutions, both judicial and prosecutorial. 

Based on a BIRN court monitoring project, Kusari also pointed out that the majority of court hearings are held in judges’ offices, not in trial chambers.

The campaign was launched at a press conference in Pristina on the same day as Kosovo’s government began consultations about the proposed new coal-fired power station which is slated to be built in the Obiliq/Obilic region, where two other power plants are already operating.

KOSID said that institutions like the World Bank that support the project must “explain why they are investing in projects which take people’s lives, impoverish them and destroy the environment they live in, when there are more feasible and ecologically sound options that cost less”.

Investments in hydropower plants, wind, biomass, geothermal and solar sources would cost less and safeguard the environment, KOSID argued.

“These investments would also create three times more employment possibilities, which is very significant taking into account that over 40 per cent of our workforce is unemployed,” KOSID said

KOSID referred to a World Bank Report published last year which said that in 2010 alone, environmental pollution in Kosovo caused 835 early deaths, 310 new cases of chronic bronchitis, 22,900 new cases of respiratory diseases among children (mostly asthma), 11,600 emergency visits to country’s hospitals and over 100 million euro in direct costs connected to this problem.

“Despite being aware of these facts, the government of Kosovo and the World Bank continue to support the development of a new thermal power plant in the country, although this project will pollute the Kosovo environment for the next 40 years, which means that our children would be threatened even when playing in their backyards,” KOSID said.

BIRN Kosovo has been a member of KOSID since it was established and has been directly engaged in organising the campaign.

“Being a mother of two children, I was shocked when I saw the data,” said Jeta Xharra, BIRN director for Kosovo.

For more information on the subject please visit www.kosid.org and KOSID and Sierra Club blog sierraclub.typepad.com/compass/2013/02/new-ads-highlight-world-banks-deadly-coal-plans-for-kosovo.html.