Tag: Kosovo

The newspaper’s proprietor, Rexhep Hoti, and four members of staff at the paper, together with the mayor of Skenderaj, Sami Lushtaku, have been accused of violating the equal status of residents in Kosovo. If proven, Kosovo’s criminal code stipulates they could face imprisonment from six months to five years.

 

They are also charged with making threats and defamatory comments towards BIRN Kosovo director Jeta Xharra. If proven, these charges carry fines or prison terms of up to six and three months respectively.

For 12 days in late May and early June 2009, “Infopress” is accused of running a hate campaign against BIRN’s Kosovo director Jeta Xharra and BIRN’s “Life in Kosovo” television show.

 

The newspaper alleged without substantiation that Ms Xharra had committed treason and the paper appeared to encourage vigilante action against Ms Xharra. It issued an implicit death threat in a newspaper articlestating: “Jeta has herself chosen not to live a long life”.

 

The campaign followed the broadcast of a two-hour episode of “Life in Kosovo” on 28 May 2009, which reported on problems of freedom of speech in Kosovo. The program also included a feature on how its own camera team had been chased away from the Lushtaku’s Skenderaj municipality at gunpoint while trying to film a report on local governance.

 

In late June 2009, Kosovo’s press council ruled that unsubstantiated allegations made by Lushtaku in the newspaper which claimed that Xharra was a “servant of the Serbian secret police” could pose a “direct physical threat to her and members of her team”.

 

It urged prosecutors and police to investigate Infopress for “possible violations of the criminal code, such as threat, incitement to violence (or even to murder)”.

 

“Infopress” is associated with Kosovo’s ruling PDK party (of which Lushtaku is a member) and has received government advertising revenue during the party’s tenure in government.The only sanction imposed for its behaviour to date has failed: Infopress refused to pay the €1,000 press council fine.

 

In Kosovo, bodies such as the Association of Professional Journalists of Kosovo (AGPK), the Independent Media Commission and an umbrella group of NGOs reacted in defence of the assailed BIRN journalists.

 

Internationally, organisations such as the Committee for Protection of Journalists, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International also publicised their concerns and asked Kosovo authorities to take measures to bring the alleged perpetrators to justice.

Commenting on the indictment today, Xharra said: “It has taken prosecutors two years to act – two years during which Infopress newspaper believed it could act disgracefully and dangerously with impunity and two years during which our judiciary officials privately confessed that they were reluctant to move against it for fear of being targeted themselves.

 

It has also been two years during which our young state’s fabric – specifically its capacity to uphold freedom of speech – was allowed to corrode. EULEX’s action is belated though welcome. Let us hope that it can set a new standard”.

 

Kosovo declared independence in February 2008 and articles 40 – 42 of its constitution guarantee freedom of speech and freedom of the media.

 

 

Jeta Xharra interviewed Besim Beqaj, Minister of Economic Development, and asked him about the problems of the energy sector.

 

Why did the Kosovo government decide to close the Ministry of Energy and Mining?

 

Who is responsible at the Ministry of Economic Development for deciding on the use of coal: local or international advisors?

 

This interview will be followed by the airing of journalist Alban Selimi’s interview with Kosovo Health Minister Ferid Agani.

 

What ongoing problems are being faced by the healthcare system? What has happened to the process of appointing a new director of the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo, UCCK?

After the interviews, Life in Kosovo airs a report covering the problems of the Muslim community in Gjakova municipality, who are unable to conduct their religious services because of loud noise coming from a nearby disco club.

 

To conclude the show, the Youth in Kosovo section will be broadcast.

Questions to be discussed will include: Why does Kosovo have so many quarries? What problems have arisen as a result of quarrying operations? What damage has been caused to the environment by them? Is Kosovo’s cultural heritage endangered by the operation of legal and illegal quarries? What measures should be taken?

 

To discuss these and related issues, Muhamet Hajrullahu will be joined by the following panellists in the studio:

 

Dardan Gashi, Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning;

Ahmet Tmava, head of the Independent Board for Mines and Minerals;

Liburn Aliu, deputy head of the Parliamentary Commission for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Spatial Planning; and

Arsim Vllasaliu, from the Association for Rural Tourism in Novoberdo.

 

As part of the show, BIRN will broadcast a report by Alban Selimi, who will speak about the operation of legal and illegal quarries in Kosovo, and the measures that need to be taken against them.

 

Closing the show, BIRN will broadcast a documentary about how fully the law on smoking is being implemented in Kosovo’s municipalities.

 

What is the next strategy of Kosovo’s Government to implement the reciprocity measures in border points 1 and 31? Are there any authorities that may condemn hooligans who burned the border crossings?

 

What is meant by the request to “not get back\” from taking control of customs posts in the north? Should the police activities in the north be followed by an increased campaign of diplomatic pressure on international institutions in Kosovo and Brussels?

 

At the end of the show, BIRN broadcasts the Youth in Kosovo section, on the topic of early childhood development in Kosovo, which has been the subject of a recently published report of UNICEF.

Is the director of PTK only implementing the board’s requests, or is he responsible for everything that he has signed? Was Shyqri Haxha ever pressured to sign such an agreement? What does the Financial Times’ Balkans correspondent say about the privatisation problems in other countries in the region? Why have neither Slovenia nor Serbia managed to sell their state-owned telecommunication companies? Since three bidders are not applying, should PTK be privatised or not? What are the challenges for energy sector privatisation in Kosovo and the Balkans in general?
 

In order to discuss these and other issues related to the privatisation of public enterprises, Jeta Xharra has invited the following guests to the studio:
 

Shyqri Haxha, executive director of PTK;
Andrea Capussela, former head of the International Civilian Office (ICO) financial unit;
Arben Gjukaj, managing director of Kosovo Electric Company (KEK); and
Neil MacDonald, Financial Times correspondent for the Balkans.
 

At the end of the show, in the context of the ‘Youth in Kosovo’ section, BIRN will broadcast a report produced by youths of between 14 and 20 years of age, on the topic “The school year has finished, what do we do now?” The report shows the activities that youth can do during the summer, such as reading books, learning foreign languages, attending theater courses or go fishing.

 

How are students in our country being evaluated? Is anyone evaluating teachers and professors, or the Ministry of Education? How long will people who have not studied at all still be allowed to graduate in Kosovo? Should we be satisfied with the final results of the national graduation exam and achievement exam?
 

To discuss these and other issues related to the success, and otherwise, of students in this school year, journalist

 

Muhamet Hajrullahu has invited the following guests to the studio:
Nehat Mustafa, deputy minister of Education;
Osman Beka, director of “Sami Frashëri” high school;
Isa Elezaj, from Vetëvendosje; and
Jusuf Thaçi, an expert of educational issues.
 

In the context of the debate, BIRN will broadcast a new section, Youth in Kosovo, produced by youths of between 14 and 20 years of age, who will talk about education in Kosovo.
 

At the end of the show, BIRN will broadcast a report by journalist Edona Musa about the firing of directors in Vitia municipality’s schools.

Jeta Xharra speaks with Hashim Rexhepi, former governor of Kosovo Central Bank, who reveals for the first time the demands that senior politicians in Kosovo allegedly made of him before his arrest.

How does Hashim Rexhepi support his arguments that the charges leveled against him are politically motivated? Who asked him to transfer the money of the privatization process into named banks? What happens to a central bank governor if he declines to perform the illegal demands of a finance minister?

 

Journalist Edona Musa speaks with Basri Muja, acting director at the Kosovo Accreditation Agency.

 

Who is demanding bribes there for accrediting an educational institution? What are the charges being made against the board of Kosovo Accreditation Agency?

 

Journalist Alban Selimi’s report culminates the show – an investigation of the travails of building a municipal property in Kamenica and the dysfunction of the directorate of Health in the municipality of Junik.

 

Finally, he reports on the vandalism and looting of the barracks of the Kosovo Protection Corps in Llukar, outside Prishtina.

Before the debate, BIRN broadcasts the interview with the Kosovar pilot James Berisha and exclusive views of its emergency landing in Sudan.

 

Jeta Xharra has interviewed Andrea Capussela, former head of the International Civilian Office financial unit. Capussela is one of the witnesses who contacted EULEX regarding the agreement signed between PTK Dardafone, which according to him has damaged PTK and the public money. Regarding this issue, during the last week, EULEX filed charges against the board and management of PTK.

 

The main questions to be covered in the debate include: Do employers in Kosovo obey the labour law? Is there a sufficient budget for the implementation of this law? How efficient can be the 52 labour inspectors who operate all over Kosovo? What are the main complaints addressed to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare? How should the state institutions react in cases when the labour inspectors violate this law?

 

In order to discuss these and other issues related to the Labour law, journalist Muhamet Hajrullahu has invited the following:

 

Nenad Rashiq, minister of Labour and Social Welfare;
Haxhi Arifi, head of the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Kosovo;
Rita Hajzeraj-Beqaj, deputy in Kosovo Assembly;
Agron Demi, from GAP Institute.

In the context of the debate, BIRN broadcasts the interviews with the workers of BITEX factory in Kosovo Polje, who were sacked after refusing to sign an illegal contract.

 

In their case, the labour law was not only violated by the factory owners, but also by the labour inspectors.

 

The show also features an interview with the director of troubled Kosovo Art Gallery and a report on the main problems in Main Family Medical Center in Podujeva.

Jeta Xharra talks to de Marnhac about the efficiency of EULEX in the north of Kosovo and the EULEX investigations intotop Kosovo officials.

 

Is EULEX a peacekeeping mission, a political one or mission of the rule of law?

Why can’t EULEX complete the corruption investigations into Fatmir Limaj and

Hashim Rexhepi? Why EULEX is failing to establish the rule of law in the north

of Kosovo? Why has EULEX trained 550 police officers in crowd and riot control,

while there are only 60 judges and prosecutors in total?

 

What are the reasons for the departure of president of Special Prosecution and

the chief prosecutor of EULEX? How did the conflict between these two affect the

stagnation of corruption investigations in Kosovo?

Afterwards, journalist Muhamet Hajrullahu interviews Fahredin Spahija, the director

of Kosovo Art Gallery, about ongoing problems at the institution and a call from

gallery workers to fire him.

 

At the end of the show, journalist Edona Musa explains why eight directors at the

Main Family Medical Center in Podujeva were fired.

 

Life in Kosovo is a co-production between Kosovo Public Television, RTK and the Balkan

Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is broadcast every Thursday, starting at 21:00.

What do journalists from Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, and Macedonia say regarding the integration of the Western Balkans in the European Union? Why is Kosovo left out of the visa liberalisation processes? What problems do these countries all face? How do the people of Western Balkans feel about their integration into the EU?

 

To discuss these and other problems facing the states in the Western Balkans regarding EU integration, journalist Muhamet Hajrullahu has invited the following:

 

Gjeraqina Tuhina, Brussels correspondent of Radio Television of Kosovo;

Srdjan Kusovac, editor of Pobjeda newspaper in Montenegro;

Ernest Bunguri, Brussels correspondent of Alsat M television in Macedonia;

Dusan Gajic, Brussels correspondent of Radio Television of Serbia and editor of SeeTV in Serbia.

 

After the debate, BIRN broadcasts a report by journalist Alban Selimi, which reveals the energy theft by many citizens in Kosovo and the courts’ inefficiency in dealing with these cases.

 

Afterwards, journalist Edona Musa looks at the many problems that schools throughout Kosovo are dealing with.

 

BIRN ends the show with a report about how the procedural delays with tenders at the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo are seriously endangering children affected by cancer, who are being treated in pediatric oncology ward.