Pristina, November 9 2019 – Kosovo Law Institute (KLI), by the support of US Department – International Narcotics Bureau and Law Enforcement Matters (INL) and NED, on Saturday, held press conference, on which has published the report “Legal amnesty of millions of minor offenses”.
Betim Musliu, high researcher at the KLI said that the analytical report is prepared as result of monitoring and research of minor offense cases that are treated by the public institutions and judicial system of the Republic of Kosovo. “Mismanagement of minor offense cases by the public institutions and judicial system has produced multidimensional consequences to the society in Kosovo. On the other hand, millions of investments are made in order to identify and impose minor offenses, whereas on the other hand when these cases go to court, are prescribed or briefly, are thrown into the basket, as a result of non-execution of these minor offenses, it turns out that are causing millions of damages to the taxpayer budget”.
Arrita Rezniqi, researcher at the KLI, said that minor offenses compose one of the most frequent violations that occur in the daily lives of the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo. “Therefore, their treatment by the relevant institutions should be done efficiently, in order to avoid the possibility that these cases to be prescribed, taking into account the short deadlines of the statutory limitation of these cases. Unfortunately, a practice show that these cases are not treated and resolved on time and consequently comes to their statutory limitation. By this result other consequences, such as the inability of the state to bring before justice persons who violate law and damage in the state budget as a result of non-collection of funds by the perpetrators of minor offenses. As a result of the inefficiency of courts throughout territory of Kosovo, only in the last three years, are prescribed over 170,000 minor offense cases or millions of euros”.
Rezniqi said that from all the data analyzed and presented even graphically in the report, it is clear that in 2018, the number of cases received at the basic courts has marked a significant reduce. “This shows that the new Law on Minor Offense with the authorizations given to administrative bodies to impose fines has reduced the number of cases of this nature in the domestic courts. So you can see that out of 355,865 cases received in 2016, this number was reduced to only 34,812 cases. However, despite this impact, efficiency in 2018 has marked the lowest scale for the last three years.”
Researcher Rezniqi emphasized that the statutory limitation of minor offense cases it is not concerning issue only because of the great value it achieves, but especially due to consequences it causes. “Thus, loses the purpose of treating with cases of this nature, because when those responsible are not punished, then proceedings are developed for nothing. In these cases the statutory limitation of minor offenses leads to a violation of the right to life and security, as well as the right to property. Thus, the statutory limitation of cases is a violation of the property right of those that pay the fine, because, in these cases, the issue that who will pay the fine and who does not, is completely arbitrary. Then, another consequence is the increase of number of recidivist, who easily get rid, cases are prescribed and in their perception there are no consequences, so there is no need to be careful in the future”.
Rezniqi said that from the statutory limitation of minor offenses the state budget is seriously violated and all these consequences lead to the reduction of public confidence on the work of the justice system in Kosovo. “According to KLI’s calculation, explained in detail in the research methodology of this report, it turns out that due to the statutory limitation of minor offense cases over the past three years (2016, 2017, 2018) state budget has lost in total about 2,152,142.05 euros available to be collected.”
Anesa Hoxha researcher at the KLI has presented recommendations for public and judicial institutions, to address concerning findings regarding damages caused by mismanagement and the statutory limitation of minor offenses. She said that the efficiency of work of judges should be increased, using the amendments in the law on minor offense, means the lowest number of received cases, consequently also the lowest number of cases at work. Hoxha said that through the increase of efficiency in treating minor offense cases, the statutory limitation of cases would be avoided and to encourage also other bodies to be more efficient.
For more find attached the report published Amnistia e ligjshme e milionave te kundervajtjes – IKD – 09.11.2019.