The first meeting of the “Justice Access Forum” in Gjakova Municipality

Gjakova, July 31-FOL Movement within the project “Getting closer citizens to justice institutions”, which is funded by the American people through USAID / ATRC, held the first meeting for formation of the ” Justice Access Forum ” in Gjakova Municipality. In this meeting participated representatives of the Court, Prosecution, Police, representatives from the Ombudsman, Legal Assistance Centre, representatives from the Chamber of Attorneys, NGOs, media and interested citizens from Gjakova Municipality. Absent at the meeting were representatives from the Basic Court in and Prosecution in Gjakova.

Kenan Tora, from FOL Movement presented the idea and stressed the assistance that the function of the forum would provide for institutions and citizens’ access to justice . Meanwhile, Drenusha Mula, local coordinator of FOL Movement in Gjakova presented the findings of the project. “Difficulties regarding access to court are various like appointment of meeting the Head of the Basic Court in Gjakova , then not providing a list of cases of corruption and misuse of public money, they only provided figures but not a copy of that list”, said Mula. Avdi Berisha , Kosovo police captain said that Police guarantees serious treatment of each case. “Kosovo police cooperate with Prosecution in time for certain procedures. He mentioned that there are different forms of access to the Police and especially Police Inspectorate, where in many cases proved to have positive results, “said Berisha.

Faton Canhasi, an RTK reporter from Gjakova said that the lack of competence of the court for information on cases made less important the information about the cases. “Closing the case for information helps concealing illegal actions that can occur during a process in court,” said Canhasi.

Remzi Gjikolli a lawyer said that for civil affairs one should wait 5-6 years until it starts a hearing session. “This is because of the large number of cases and the small number of judges,” said Gjikolli.

Flamur Gojani from the Independent Trade Unions of Gjakova region called the judges to ask for their work conditions. “With the fulfillment of work conditions then the judge will feel safe and free to perform his job correctly. He also asked the court to be more accessible and prosecutors and judges should use internet which would facilitate their work as well as citizens’ access to the Court. “

Fatime Boshnjaku from Network “Qeliza” among other things, stated that “we, as a society lack the courage and the when it comes to justice in Kosovo, people are disappointed. There is no justice here and it takes a long time and a greater awareness of the citizens to understand that everyone can give his contribution. “

FOL Movement hopes that the meetings of this forum will be regular in the future.

This project is funded by the American People through USAID/ATRC.