Pristina, 27th October 2016 – Kosovo Law Institute (KLI), with the support of British Embassy in Kosovo, held roundtable titled “Fight for fighting against corruption” in which published monitoring report of treatment of corruption cases in prosecutorial system and court system. During this roundtable were discussed for the performance and results of justice institutions in fighting corruption.
Part of panel of this roundtable were the Ambassador of Great Britain in Kosovo, Mr. Ruairi O’Connell, American Ambassador in Kosovo, Mr. Greg Delawie, Minister of Justice, Ms. Dhurata Hoxha, Head of Judicial Council, Mr. Nehat Idrizi and member of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, Ms. Radica Milic.
In her opening speech, Ministry of Justice, Ms. Dhurata Hoxha said that she has a legal obligation to ensure citizens of Kosovo equal access and safety in justice. “My priority in this mandate is fight against corruption. Improvement of legislation and supervising of law enforcement it is one of the steps of empowerment of justice system. Building of the rule of law will empower Kosovo position in the process of visa liberalization” said Hoxha. Further, she spoke for mechanism that this ministry is creating to raise its efficiency and accountability. “Fighting corruption is not easy battle neither immediate, fighting against it will be difficult and continuously but we will win it for the upcoming generations and our children”.
Ambassador of Great Britain, Mr. Ruairi O’Connell, during this roundtable said that the report of Kosovo Law Institute qualifies it as a professional report which proves the loss of public trust in the justice system. “We have interests that do not leave Kosovo to collapse for the desire of some people. It is in the interest of Great Britain that Kosovo to be strong and a state with prosperity and only way to fight corruption is to have a strong judiciary”. Talking about fight against corruption, he mentioned concrete cases including here case of former president of the municipal court in Pristina, Nuhi Uka, for which case said that as a result of delay of this subject, he was left free. “We have the last case of Mr. Uka, where it’s proven that violations of legal deadlines enabled him not to be punished nor investigated due to prescription of penal acts of corruption. An another case of Mr. Uka, court has confirmed that 6 million euros damage has been caused and in this case Mr. Uka is sentence suspended and was not confiscated any cent.
How is possible that indictments raised for corruption by the prosecution to remain within months in courts and to not set court sessions”. Ambassador O’Connell has mentioned as successful example the special prosecutor Admir Shala and the prosecutor of Basic Prosecution in Pristina, Armend Hamiti.
British ambassador spoke for reports findings of the KLI, where he considers these facts concerning.
“You have made a perfect data base of subjects of corruption cases of high level, but now it’s time to have concrete results and to prove that it dares to be sentenced all the corrupted whoever they are. Founding’s of the report show that for the corruption acts the accused belong mainly to low level and rare case are raised indictments to persons of high profile. It was seen that even when they are sentenced in courts or not sentenced or suspended sentence.
Also US Ambassador in Kosovo, Mr. Greg Delawie, has evaluated the report of Kosovo Law Institute encouraging judicial bodies to benefit from recommendations of this report.
“Nobody likes to be criticized or to be told that is not doing a perfect work, but the truth is that every time should be place for improvement. So benefit from the report of the KLI to improve your work”. American ambassador noticed non-presence of the Special Prosecutor of Republic of Kosovo, for which he said that this prosecution has the authorization to raise indictments for serious crimes, and none of them is not present on the roundtable to represent it. Further, Ambassador Delawie spoke for the fight against corruption, who said that the whole society should be committed in this fight. “We are all aware that corruption is one of the significant problems in Kosovo. To fight corruption is required a commitment of all. Any institution and no one can do it alone. Unfortunately corruption is not something that can be eliminated entirely, but we must fight to identify and punish it”, said Delawie.
Head of Kosovo Judicial Council, Mr. Nehat Idrizi said that founding’s and recommendations of the report from Kosovo Law Institute will be analyzed by Kosovo Judicial Council side and actions will be taken to implement them in practice. “For the judiciary priority is the public trust which is seen that is in very low scale. Corruption is a weak phenomenon that is also present in Kosovo. It can be concluded that corruption has a devastating impact in the rule of law. Corruption cannot be fight easily and need a commitment of the entire society and our institutions, and especially institutions of justice”. His speech, head of KJC, concluded by thanking Kosovo Law Institute for the analytic report and promised that this institute will remain informed for steps that will be taken by the KJC based on recommendations presented in the report.
Meanwhile, member of Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, Ms. Radica Milic, said that phenomenon of corruption cannot be expunged, but everyone should make effort to bring it to an acceptable level. “Corruption is a global problem and we need for support by all” said Milic. She urged the Kosovo Assembly that during discussions for budget to take into consideration requests of Kosovo Prosecutorial Council for increase of budget in order to have a greater efficiency. Besides this invitation, she invited also new prosecutors to deal with corruption cases, promising the support of the KPC. In the end, Ms. Milic thanked KLI for the serious work that has made with the compilation of this report.