Dangerous Public Spaces

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On November 29, 2013, Justice in Kosovo discussed about the dangerous public location that jeopardize people’s lives every day.

 The investigative report addresses the problem of dangerous public locations where many people have died accidentally. During this investigation Justice in Kosovo worked diligently in identifying various dangerous spots where a lot of citizens across the country were either at risk of their lives or had already lost their lives.

The program addresses the problem of Barileva village, in Prishtina, where many children drowned in the irrigation channel of Iber- Lepenc. This channel was established during the Communist era of Kosovo. The channel was used to irrigate the tableland of Kosovo. Many houses have been built near this channel. However, due to this area being a residential area there had always been concern that local children were at risk due to the irrigation channel.

A three-year-old boy named Endrit Nreci was one of the victims who lost his life in this channel when he drowned in the water of this channel. Sevdije Nreci, the mother of Endrit, explains the accident. She also said that she always feared that this would happen.

The Iber-Lepenc officials say that the channel was established many years ago and the houses near the channel have been built afterwards. Hajdar Beqa, one of the officials, said, “This is an open channel and the citizens should be very careful. These houses near the channel should not have been built there in the first place.”

The program also addressed the problem related to the controls being put on theme parks, with many of them lacking the required supervision from the municipality; one of the parks in Lipjan resulted to be dangerous for the visitors. 

One of the cases is the amusement park in Lipjan where a seesaw was put in the park without possessing a license for it. Petrit Gashi is a young boy who was injured in the seesaw. For this case, the public prosecution filed an indictment. The Court of Lipjan sentenced the responsible persons with a fee of 250 Euros per person.

In addition, Justice in Kosovo also showed the case of a child from Peja who was seriously injured because an electric cord passed through his balcony. The child of this family, Mergim Syla, was injured a few years ago. Shkurte Syla, Mergim’s aunt, said that it is difficult to watch children all the time and keep them away from the cords. As a result of the accident Mergim’s hands are not fully recovered.

Seven years after the accident, Kosovo Energy Corporation has not removed the cords from that place.

Namik Bajraktari, Head of KEC in Peja, said, “I was not informed of this case. He said that for the moment the cords are isolated.” He promised that this problem will be resolved and action was indeed taken to address the issue.

Agron Maxhuni, a legal official in the Ministry of Local Governance Administration, said that the Municipality Security Council should track these cases. He also mentioned that they have 6 meetings per year where they actively discussed these issues and seek to find solutions.