The invasion of the Court in North Mitrovica in March, 2008 left the judges and prosecutors of Mitrovica without offices.
After 6 years, they are still using the same building of Vushtrri Court. Shyqeri Syla, the head of the Prosecution in Mitrovica, said more than 20 people work in one office under extremely difficult conditions.
“We hope that by the end of the year we will move to our building in Mitrovica,” he added.
The Prosecution of Mitrovica has only one professional collaborator and a lack of working spaces and equipment.
“When one prosecutor has to interview a suspect, the other officials have to leave the office,” said Syla.
The Court of Mitrovica is in the same situation. The juridical process is held in a container brought by USAID.
Kada Bunjaku Perquku, the head of the Court of Mitrovica, said that for six years the court of Mitrovica has been held in the building of the Court of Vushtrri , a space that is not enough even for the lawyers of Vushtrri.
“In many cases we have to move to the Court of Skenderaj when there are no offices free in Vushtrri Court,” she added.
In many cases the judgment process has to be developed in the same space where other judges do their daily work.
The Court of Mitrovica is short 10 judges based on their caseload and they have only seven professional collaborators.
The dominant penal offenses are narcotic and traffic offenses.
The situation of the Court in Prizren is better than in Mitrovica.
Ymer Hoxha, head of the Basic Court in Prizren, said that they are doing a good job and the number of pending cases is decreasing.
“The judges exceeded the number of cases expected to be processed,” he added.
But the Court of Prizren still requires five more judges in order to function normally. They only have only nine professional collaborators for thirty-five judges. The lack of equipment is also a big concern.
The Prosecution of Prizren works with thirteen prosecutors. Syle Hoxha, the head of the Prosecution of Prizren, said that six more prosecutors are needed to function normally. She added that they only have one professional collaborator, and require six more in order to be able to function normally.
Syla said that they have also they have security concerns in the building of the Court.