Pristina, 2 December 2025: The Kosovo Law Institute (KLI), FOL Movement and the Initiative for Progress (INPO) (hereinafter: the NGO Coalition) have followed with concern the unlawful and abusive actions of certain members of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council (KPC), most of whose mandates expire next month. Through illegal decisions in the final days of their mandates, these members are openly attempting to sabotage reform within the KPC. Through these actions, this group of KPC members seeks to maintain a majority in the Council even after the KPC’s composition is reduced.
On 20 November 2025, during a meeting held without quorum and contrary to the law, a group of KPC members unlawfully dismissed the Acting Chief State Prosecutor, Mr. Besim Kelmendi, and illegally appointed Mr. Agron Qalaj in his place. Based on this decision, Qalaj participated in yesterday’s meeting, thereby providing the necessary quorum for some KPC members, most of whom hold mandates only until January 2026, enabling the continuation of unlawful decisions.
During yesterday’s meeting, the KPC did not approve the report on the election of the new KPC member. The justification was that, according to them, promises of favors were made and there was pressure on prosecutors to vote. Through this unlawful approach, the KPC aims to overturn the will of the 74 prosecutors who voted for their representative in the KPC. This is despite the fact that all administrative procedures to ascertain violations in this process have already been exhausted.
Article 12.1 of Regulation No. 05/2025 on the Election of Prosecutor Members of the KPC allows opposing candidates, in case of alleged procedural violations, to file a complaint with the KPC within 72 hours. The candidate in this process, who did not receive a sufficient number of votes to be elected as a KPC member, exercised this right and filed a complaint with the KPC. The KPC rejected this complaint on 13 November 2025. According to paragraph 3 of this article, “After reviewing the complaints, the Council shall announce and certify the final results of the electoral process within seven (7) days.”
Thus, the administrative procedure for selecting the new KPC member has now concluded, and the KPC is obligated to announce and certify the results within the seven (7) day period, which has already elapsed. Regarding the report, based on Article 12.1 of the Regulation in question, it represents only an informative report and under no circumstances can it be used to overturn the will of the 74 prosecutors who voted for their representative in the KPC. Attempts to compromise the transparent process that took place, through unsubstantiated claims of pressure not documented by investigative institutions, constitute unfounded and unethical efforts to violate the will of the prosecutors who voted for their KPC representative.
All these unlawful actions are being carried out by a portion of KPC members, most of whose mandates end in January 2026, when the KPC reform is expected to take effect. In this situation, given the evident abuse of legality by the KPC through securing quorum via an unlawful decision, the NGO Coalition calls on the Court to urgently impose a temporary measure regarding the dismissal of the Acting Chief State Prosecutor.
Failure to do so poses a real risk of continued unlawful decision-making, the violation of the prosecutors’ will in electing their representative to the KPC, and the sabotage of KPC reform by certain members of the KPC, most of whom will end their mandates next month.
Moreover, based on the statement of the European Union Office, the KPC’s actions are undermining Kosovo’s path toward EU integration. The KPC must take these observations seriously to uphold legality and preserve its integrity as a constitutional institution administering the justice system.