The judge for serious crimes Elmaze Fazliu, who currently works in the General Department of the Basic Court, has breached the law in two cases denying the right to complain to the parties that were involved in the case that she was judging. Fazliu still works as a judge, whereas the Disciplinary Prosecutor’s office is investigating the case.
Last April, Gresa Shabani threatened Anduena Mekuli. Shabani is currently the executive director of ‘Croatia Sigurim.’ The charges against Shabani were pressed on the April 3, 2013, by prosecutor Hivzi Bajraktari. Shabani was found guilty for threatening Anduena Makolli and had to pay a 300 euro fine.
Shabani’s case was reviewed in the Basic Court of Prishtina by Judge Elmaze Fazliu, on June 6. Two weeks before the verdict, Shabani requested to accelerate the lawsuit.
“The reason behind the acceleration of the lawsuit is because I am a female and a familiar person. Also, I wanted to finish this as soon as possible because this has a bad impact on my career, work and credibility as an intellectual person,” Shabani said.
In the judicial proceeding, Shabani admitted that she threatened Anduena Mekuli and she expressed regret.
On June 6, Judge Fazliu announced to the verdict and on the list of the verdict, she claimed that the parties do not have any complaints. Based on the Penal Procedure Code, a verdict can be powerful only if 15 days have passed from the verdict.
Mekuli, who found out about the verdict only after four days was not satisfied with the decision and she wanted to make a complaint. “When someone threatens you and ends up with 300 Euro fine it is not a fair decision. I would complain if I had the chance,” said Mekuli; whereas, Shabani did not comment about the case.
Judge Fazliu did not want to make any comment about the case and she said that the Disciplinary Prosecution’s Office of the Kosovo Judicial Council will deal with this issue. This decision was canceled after one day by the head of Basic Court, Hamdi Ibrahimi.
Judge Fazliu was involved in another case also where she denied the involved parties the right to complain. The other case was similar to the first one where two people were accused for defamation and were not allowed to complain because the judge finished immediately.
In addition, the Head of Basic Court, Hamdi Ibrahimi, started a disciplinary procedure against Judge Fazliu. “I was obliged to start a disciplinary procedure and to ask for the suspension of this judge because these are issues that I as a judge cannot overcome,” said Ibrahimi.
On the April, 18 2013, Fazliu sent a complaint to the Kosovo Judicial Council, Supreme Court, Appeal Court and EULEX against the decision of Ibrahimi to transfer her from the serious crimes department to the department for general crimes. Fazliu asked these institutions to take action against this decision.
“Justice in Kosovo” also prepared a report about how the Kosovo Police Inspectorate operates. Even though they are called to protect the law, police officers sometimes are contradicting the law.
The Kosovo Police Inspectorate was established in order to deal with police officers that violate the law. Up until 2011, the Police of Kosovo dealt with these violations, but to avoid every possible conflict of interest, Ministry for Internal Affairs established an independent section that investigates police officers.