According the law in Kosovo if an accused person cannot support to pay a lawyer, the state finds one for him. This is called ex officio lawyer.
All licensed lawyers should be committed by the state but according the lists of ex officio engaged lawyers only some names appear.
On February 2011 “Justice in Kosovo” reported irregularities on the engagement of ex-officio lawers.
In 2014 the situation a little changed.
The most paid ex-officio lawyers in the two biggest districts Pristine and Prizren are, in Pristina the lawyer Drita Hoxha with a total of 4467 euro, Zymrete Muniqi Zeka 4386 euro, Adem Ademi 4216 euro and Ali Beka 3948 euro.
In the district of Prizren on top of the list is the lawyer Hana Canaj with a total of 5400 euro , than Hajrip Krasniqi with 4924 euro ,Avni Berisha 4881 euro and Osman Zajmi me 4058 euro.
The same situation there is on the prosecution list, on top of the list as most paid for ex officio engagement is the lawyer Arsim Bilali with a total of 3642 euro than Halil Derguti with 3157 euro, Fatmire Braha me 2784 euro and Hana Canaj me 2504 euro.
“If we check the payment list of the lawyer’s specific names being engaged more frequently bring the doubt of selection according personal preferences” said Ylli Zeka head of the Chamber of lawyers
“In the district of Pristina we have a number of 100 lawyer declared for ex officio defense service and only a minor number is being called for ex officio defense” said Administrator of the Chamber of Lawyers Florim Shefqeti.
The chamber of Lawyer created a system for a fair selection of the ex officio lawyer but still today it is not working.