Head of Prosecution in Prizren, Syle Hoxha, who is already working on this case, explained that they still do not have verifications. According to Hoxha, detailed investigations are observing the conditional release and the massive absence of these cases:
“The state prosecution initiated the case and we took the first investigative actions. In the case, the penal act was committed by the people who helped them avoid prison and the sentenced persons,” said Hoxha.
As for the terminated cases, Head of Kosovo Judicial Council, Enver Peci, confirmed that disciplinary prosecution office of this institution will start investigating possible breaches: “We are waiting the results from this office,” said Enver Peci.
The statutory limitation of a case, also known as “the death of a case,” happens when the court does not reach a sentence within a particular amount of time. The deadlines vary depending on the penal act.
“Justice in Kosovo’s” investigation released some new findings about the massive statutory limitation of cases in court such as the Mitrovica prosecution where 1500 cases were under statutory limited, which means that the perpetrators will not serve their sentence.
The officials of the Judiciary of Mitrovica say that the statutory limitation of these cases is a result of malfunction of transferring the North court to Vushtrri after independence in 2008.
“We work in Vushtrri based on the Declaration of the Independence in difficult conditions. It is reasonable that the cases are statutory limited,” added Head Prosecutor of Mitrovica, Shyqyri Syla.
“The fact that many of the criminals in Mitrovica avoided their sentences is breaching human rights. This influenced crimes rates and now they are higher because people saw that the criminals are not being sentenced and they are not afraid anymore,” said Syla.
The Judge Kada Bunjaku-Perquku said that these statutory limited cases damaged the victims and suspected people: “now they cannot practice their rights.”
“Justice in Kosovo” also prepared a short report about the performance of offices of the judicial and prosecutorial council.
In order to enhance the quality of work in courts and prosecutions, domestic courts have decided that in the framework of the judicial and prosecutorial council, particular commission will be established to evaluate each prosecutor and judge.
“The regulation for judges’ performance has planned all the procedure of evaluating a judge,” said Emine Mustafa, Judges’ Performance Evaluator.