Justice in Kosovo 2012

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On December 23, 2012, “Justice in Kosovo” discussed all of the main events that happened that year.

Among the questions discussed were: Who were the accused former ministers this year? Who was declared guilty to corruption? Why is Kosovo still found among the first states in the list for corruption in region? How many millions of Euros were misused by ministers this year? Which judges were bribed in order to announce unlawful decisions?

In 2012, ministers visited the court because they were accused for misusing their official titles. Among the ministers who misused their power are: Slavisa Petkovic (former Minister for Community and Return), Branislav Grbic (former Minister for Community and Return), Valton Beqiri (former Minister of Culture), Astrit Haraqia (former Minister of Culture), and Bujar Bukoshi (former Minister of Education Science and Technology). Some of the cases now are closed and some of them have just opened. Another very important accusation was the deputy and minister Fatmir Limaj who is accused of violating several laws. Fatmir Limaj continues being trialed.

Another important event was the suicide of Dino Hasanaj, the Head of Kosovo Privatization Agency. The case was closed as a suicide, but the prosecutors are still investigating the reasons behind his suicide. The case of Hasanaj revealed that the ministers were involved in the privatization process.

In addition, there were also some judges who were accused of taking bribes to announce unlawful decisions. Two of the most important cases include the former Head of District Court in Vitia, Drane Simani, who was caught in a meeting of a political party, and Judge Miodrag Pavic who was caught taking bribes.  In this affair, the prosecutors were also included. One of the prosecutors was Nazmi Mustafi, the special prosecutor for corruption, who was suspected in taking bribes in order to release the accused individuals from prosecution.

Another scandal that is worth mentioning is when documents in Peja were stolen. Also, 25 kilograms of gold were confiscated from the police and were missing from the evidence room.

It was also found out that even in Prizren’s prison many irregularities happened. Some of the irregularities were: contraband of drugs, use of mobile phones in prison, personnel stealing from the prisoners, personnel mistreating prisoners. The head of the prison in Prizren did not confirm any of the accusations or irregularities.

BIRN discovered that some policemen were taking bribes and accusations were submitted in the prosecution.