Prishtina, 4th July 2021 – Lëvizja FOL, Debate Center, and Internews Kosovo, in the frame of “Justice Sector in Kosovo – responsible, reliable and transparent” have held “Creative Writing and Public Political Analysis” training. During the training, the participants were given the opportunity to understand more easily the technical and institutional processes related to the process of proposing and implementing public policies. Ardi Shatri, except for practical group work; lecture about; (1) analysis about the current situation, (2) problem identification, (3) SWOT and CBA analysis, (4) economic policy analysis techniques, (5) counter-factual situation, and (6) assessment.

The participants will be engaged in creating various public policy analyzes, which we will share with you very soon.

This training was conducted by Lëvizja FOL, Debate Center and Internews Kosovo in the frame of “Justice Sector in Kosovo – responsible, reliable and transparent”.

Prishtina, 29 June 2021 – Lëvizja FOL held the 4^th  of a series of lectures on legal provisions and investigative procedures in the field of corruption, where Mr. Gzim Shala lectured on “Management of conflict of interest as the fight against corruption.”

Pristina, 29 June 2021 – Managing conflict of interest as a fight against corruption

FOL Movement held the 4^th  of a series of lectures on legal provisions and investigative procedures in the field of corruption, where Mr. Gzim Shala lectured on “Management of conflict of interest as the fight against corruption.”

Prishtina, 17 June 2021 – The FOL movement within the series of lectures on legal provisions and investigative procedures in the field of corruption, has held the third lecture where the speaker was Mr. Florent Spahija, legal advisor at the Democratic Institute of Kosovo (KDI).

The topic of discussion was signaling, namely the protection of whistleblowers in the fight against corruption.

Meanwhile, for the other two candidates, Krenare Sogojeva Dermaku and Edon Miftari we are waiting to receive the full file from the Assembly of Kosovo.

Prishtina, 17 JUNE 2021 – In the parliamentary session held on June 17, 2021, Krenare Sogojeva Dërmaku was elected Commissioner for Information and Privacy. Mrs. Sogojeva Dërmaku was twice recommended by experts hired by the British embassy for recruitment to senior positions but did not get enough votes.

We express our deep disappointment with the boycott of this process by the opposition. Deputies have a constitutional obligation to stay in the hall and vote. They have failed to meet their obligations.

We invite Mrs.Sogojeva Dermaku to start the very much needed reform of the Agency for Information and Privacy, to select the staff of the agency -especially inspectors- on the basis of merit, to perform the work responsibly and professionally in handling cases related to access to public documents and protect the personal data of the citizens of Kosovo. We invite Mrs. Sogojeva Dermaku to make staff recruitment transparent by allowing civil society to closely monitor these processes. We expect agency decisions to be professionally written, based on European standards, well reasoned and easily accessible on the website.

Regarding the suspicions raised about the documents submitted by Mr. Bujari, the acting head of the parliamentary group, Mrs. Mimoza Kusari Lila, called for the involvement of the prosecution. In order to remove the doubts raised during this process, we suggest the interviewing panel to follow the advice of Ms. Kusari Lila by addressing the prosecution.

We will continue to closely monitor the work of the Information and Privacy Agency.

FOL

Flutura Kusari

GLPS

KDI

KCSF

Çohu

D4D

GAP

Pristina,  16 JUNE 2021 – We the organizations and activists written below, after gathering additional evidence about the candidate Enver Bujari, we ask Levizja Vetëvendosje  and the ruling parties not to proceed with this process.

After the suspicions that Mr. Bujar has changed the data on work experience and education, through the right of access to public documents, we have provided the complete file of his application.

According to the documents provided, it results that Mr. Bujar did not provide the document that proves the work experience, as required by competition and law, but only the report of the Pension Trust. This document is important because for this position the candidates are required to have: at least, eight (8 years of professional work experience, of which, at least, five (5) years of experience in leadership positions, and only with the report of the Pension Trust such a thing can not be proven.

In the absence of this evidence, the deputies of the interview panel – composed of Lëvizja Vetëvendosje and other ruling parties – should not have invited Mr. Bujar at all for an interview. The responsibility for checking the file lies with the deputies of the interview panel. For this failure, we hold responsible the following MPs: Fatmir Humolli, Shqipe Mehmeti Selimi, Mefail Bajqinovci, Enver Dugolli and Arbër Rexhaj from Lëvizja Vetëvendosje, Erxhan Galushi and the Progressive Movement of Roma of Kosovo and Slavko Simić from the Serbian List.

Knowing that Mr.Bujari did not submit the full application, his application should not be consired at all.

The Law on Personal Data Protection requires that three candidates be nominated for the plenary session. The invalidity of Mr. Bujar’s application leaves only two candidates in the race, contrary to the law in question.

Recall that this process was accompanied by the most irregularities, starting from the composition of the panel contrary to parliamentary practice, non-transparency in the evaluation of candidates and high evaluation of candidates who did not perform well in the interview.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner will be the most important person in Kosovo in protecting personal data and guaranteeing access to public documents. He must be professional, without political coloration and with high integrity. We hope that Levizja Vetëvendosje will reflect and will not endanger such an important institution.

Meanwhile, for the other two candidates, Krenare Sogojeva Dermaku and Edon Miftari we are waiting to receive the full file from the Assembly of Kosovo.

FOL

Flutura Kusari

GLPS

KDI

KCSF

Pristina, 09 June 2021 – The FOL movement has started with the series of “FOL hapur” discussions with the leaders of the opposition parties in the country.

Today to the “FOL hapur” Forum was invited Enver Hoxhaj, chairman of the Democratic Party of Kosovo.

During this forum the topics were discussed:

– PDK Opposition to the Kurti Government 2 (with special emphasis on Foreign Policy, the Covid-19 Pandemic Situation and the Rule of Law)

– PDK position on the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue

– Local Elections 2021 and PDK reform at the local level

Pristina, 10 June 2021 – Flutura Kusari, a legal advisor at the European Center for Freedom of the Press and Media, was the second lecturer in a series of lectures on legal provisions and investigative procedures in the field of corruption.

This lecture focused on strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP LaWsuits), lawsuits which aim to intimidate and hinder the participation in public discussions of journalists, activists, organizations, academics, etc.

Pristina, 7 JUNE 2021. We the organizations and activists that are written below express our deepest concerns  about the irregularities and followed procedures in the selection of the 4th  Information and Privacy Commissioner.

The interview panel of the Committee of Security and Defense of the Republic of Kosovo, composed with MP Fatmir Humolli, Shqipe Mehmeti Selimi, Mefail Bajqinovci, Enver Dugolli and Arber Rexhaj from “Lëvizja Vetëvendosje”, Erxhan Galushi from the Progressive Movement of Roma of Kosovo and Slavko Simić from the Serbian List who interviewed the candidates on  7th of June 2021.

For this positions have run Edon Myftari, Enver Bujari, Krenar Këpuska, Krenare Sogojeva Dermaku, Sadik Kryeziu and  Sogojeva Dermaku. Sadik Kryeziu left the meeting a couple of minutes before the interview started.

The present MPs rated the candidate Enver Bujari with the most points, overall 69 points, the candidate Krenare Sogojeva Dermaku with 63 points and the candidate Edon Myftari with 61.5 points. Those three names will be sent to the Assembly for voting, after they approve from the Committee of Security and Defense of the Republic of Kosovo. To be a Commisioner, 61 votes are needed overall.

From the direct monitoring  of the interviews, we believe that the most rated candidate did not perform as good as the other two candidates. Mr. Bujari has also run in the past processes, but  british experts that helped  the recruitment process in 2019/2020 did not rate him with enough points and did not recommend him for the Information and Privacy Commisioner position.

As we did before with the other competitions, we analyzed the biography of every candidate and we saw that the biography that Mr.Bujari submitted in this process is not the same as the biography he submitted in other processes before.

Based on the biography he submitted in the year 2019 in the Assembly of Kosovo, Mr.Bujari declared that he was the principal of the narcotics investigation unit in the period 2006-2019,  in the biography submitted in the year 2020 he declared that he worked on that position in the period of 2009-2020 while in the biography that he submitted in the year he declared that he worked on that position in the period of 2009-2019. Also, in the other submitted biographies there is discrepancy on study dates. Based on the first and second biography he graduated from the Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration at “Fama” College for two years (2010-2012), whereas based on the third biography he graduated for three years in a whole different period of time(2007-2010). Also, he changed three times the dates on which he did his studies on the field of engineering, including the name of the educational institution. We express our concern that the recruitment panel has not verified this information.

Further, during the interview the panel did not take into account the methodology created by the British experts. Questions were formed without the presence of civil society monitors, unlike the other processes when we were invited to be a part of the process.Also other times the deputies rated in a transparent manner, announcing the evaluation points after each interview and providing justification for the evaluation made. This time the deputies evaluated the candidates anonymously without giving a reason for the points given. In the end, only the total evaluation points for each candidate were announced.

We also reiterate our concern about the composition of the interview panel. At the proposal of the Vetëvendosje Movement, the panel is composed of all members of the Commission and not just one representative of political parties, as is the parliamentary practice. This approach formed a negative precession and has directly affected the loss of legitimacy of the entire Commissioner’s selection process. The ruling parties have failed to reach a consensus to keep the opposition parties involved. At the same time, we consider that the opposition has an obligation to represent the interests of its own voters by participating in the Assembly and giving its contribution.

Based on what was said above, we consider that this process has been non-transparent in the development of its activities and unprofessional in interviewing, for which, it should not continue. We call on the members of the Assembly to repeat the competition, ensuring that transparency and professionalism are the values of the new process.

FOL

Flutura Kusari

GLPS

KDI

KCSF

Çohu

D4D

GAP

[1] https://www.kosovoselection.org/outcomes-19

Pristine, 04 June 2021 – FOL movement and the most credible online media in Kosovo, Telegrafi.com today signed the agreement for the provision of the Open and Transparent Procurement portal.

During the contract signing ceremony, it was said that this portal will provide easy access to find information related to the spending of public money.

The executive director of the FOL Movement, Mexhide Demolli said that this platform will provide transparency to the readers for each signed contract.

FOL movement since 2010, part of the program has also had the part of public procurement, while in 2018 we launched the platform for ‘open and transparent procurement’. This platform contains data and contracts from state institutions from 2018 onwards.

The reason why we signed this contract with Telegraf today has to do with the longevity of this portal. We think that such a collaboration will keep this portal alive. We as FOL will continue to update the data, while Telegrafi will use its part to do more research regarding public procurement, referring to the contracts that the portal offers “, said Demolli.

Meanwhile, the editor-in-chief of the Telegraf, Muhamet Hajrullahu said that they are committed to advancing the reports related to the spending of public money. “We as Telegraf are very committed to advancing the reports related to the spending of public money, the issue of tenders in Kosovo and above all the tax expenditures of citizens. We think that with this agreement signed with the FOL Movement, to advance the reporting in the Telegraf and to have information related to public procurement.

Also to receive information related to transparency and above all not to forget that Telegrafi as a serious media has a large audience in Kosovo and we think to advance this reporting by cooperating with organizations like this with FOL ” said Hajrullahu.

The FOL movement in 2018 had launched the portal “Open and Transparent Procurement”. The purpose of this portal is to provide information to institutions, journalists and civil society representatives in order to see how the state budget is spent. At the same time, research in the field of public procurement makes public institutions continuously improve this field.

Telegrafi.com is an independent news portal in the Albanian language and was established in 2006, with its main base in Pristina and its second headquarters in Macedonia. For more than a decade, Telegrafi has managed to maintain impartiality and life as a source of news with the highest credibility in all Albanian-speaking territories.

Pristine, 03 June 2021 – FOL Movement, Debate Center and Internews Kosova have started the series of lectures on legal provisions and investigation procedures in the field of corruption. Labinot Leposhtica from Kallxo.com was the first lecturer in this series.

Lecture by Mr. Leposhtica focused on punitive policies in corruption cases by Kosovo courts. A special focus has been the regulation of penal practice according to the Criminal Code, the Code of Procedure and the Penal Policy Guide.

This serie will prooced in two forms in a virtual form and physical, over the next 10 weeks.

This project is supported from the US Department through the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).

Prishtinë, 02 JUNE 2021 – The FOL movement has started with the series of “FOL hapur” discussions with the leaders of the opposition parties in the country

Today to the “FOL hapur” Forum was invited Lumir Abdixhiku, chairman of the Democratic League of Kosovo.

During this forum the topics were discussed:

– LDK Opposition to the Kurti Government 2 (with special emphasis on Foreign Policy, the Covid-19 Pandemic Situation and the Rule of Law).

– LDK position on the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.

– Local Elections 2021 and LDK reform at the local level.

FOL will continue to organize debates with the opposition. The full debate can be found at this link: https://www.facebook.com/fol.levizja/videos/3906996856021777

Pristine, 21 MAY 2021 – Levizja FOL with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Kosovo, has published today the report “Efficiency of State Advocates during 2020”, which includes data about the importance and the work of State Advocacy during  2020.

Mexhide Demolli – Nimani – Executive Director of the FOL Movement, said that FOL with the support of the Dutch Embassy in Kosovo has monitored the work of the State Advocacy for 2020. This institution has a big empact, because it protects the state  from different lawsuits from an individual or a company. “Millions of euros from the state budget can be protected from the efficiency of the work of this institution, just as millions can be lost from their failure”, said Demolli-Nimani.

Albana Hyseni – researcher in the FOL Movement, said that during the period January-December 2020 a total of 2,180 new cases were created where state institutions were represented by the State Advocacy. According to her, the largest number of these cases were from non-contentious procedure (708 cases), followed by administrative procedure cases (632 cases), contentious procedure (599 cases), execution procedure cases (174 cases) and finally, from the criminal procedure cases( 68 cases). From the judgments received in 2020, the State Advocacy had won 516 cases, lost 431 cases, while 99 cases were returned for retrial, 25 cases for reconsideration and 98 cases for reconsideration. From these representations, the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo had earned a total of 12.8 million euros. Meanwhile, the amount paid by state institutions to the parties that have succeeded in court disputes in 2020 was 3.5 million euros “, said Hasani. We recommend to increase the transparency of the State Advocacy on the official website of the Ministry of Justice, by presenting all information and documents of public character, since there is a great lack of their publication “concluded Hasani.

Sami Istrefi – The State Attorney General said that considering the role and function that this institution has, it is well covered by legal acts and that the priority of this institution is to be as open as possible in the work they do. “As an independent institution with a very important role, we face great challenges which also affect our work. Given the large number of cases, over 20 thousand and the small number of staff, a total of 9 lawyers. Mr. Istrefi stressed the need to increase the number of lawyers and support staff, as currently in this institution there are no professional associates and the need for training which is lacking for state attorneys, “said Istrefi. According to him, the lack of proper cooperation with the relevant institutions, which are being sued, is still a concern, a challenge that is affecting the work of this institution and the loss of cases, in which case great financial damage is caused to the state.

FULL LINK:  http://levizjafol.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/EFIKASITETI-I-AVOKATUR%C3%8BS-SHTET%C3%8BRORE.pdf

Pristine, 20 MAY 2021 – Levizja FOL with the support of USAID Transparent, Effective and Accountable Municipality has today awarded the prize for journalists “FOL for procurement”. The FOL movement since 2010 monitors public procurement in Kosovo. As part of its work in 2018, it launched the Open and Transparent Procurement Portal. The purpose of this portal is to provide information to institutions, journalists and civil society representatives in order to see how the state budget is spent. At the same time, research in the field of public procurement causes public institutions to continuously improve this field.

Mexhide Demolli – Nimani –  Executive Director of the FOL Movement, stressed that public procurement accounts for approximately 10% of Kosovo’s Gross Domestic Product. Every year, about 30% of the state budget is spent through public procurement, and the fight against corruption and various abuses in this area continues to be a major challenge. Mrs. Demolli said that “reporting on public procurement by journalists is of particular importance. Therefore, to encourage investigative journalism in the field of public procurement, FOL today awarded three prizes for articles published by investigative journalists in this field, who have presented irregularities and abuses through public procurement procedures. The Deputy Director of the Office for Democracy and Governance at USAID in Kosovo, Christine Danton, said that she is proud that today, awards are being presented to honor three journalists who diligently sought, researched, and informed the public about the potential mismanagement of public funds.”The journalists with their work, has raised his voice for public procurement, they have raised their voice for the citizens, if they have to rely on these goods and services. Today’s winners of these awards are true heroes, their work has shed light on cases of suspected fraud and abuse, and has helped seek accountability from the government. The Open and Transparent Procurement Portal, created three years ago by the Speech Movement, sponsored by USAID, has helped these journalists and many others, as nearly as 50,000 people have visited the portal and conducted their research on over 15,000 contracts, with information on 270 buyers and over 3200 suppliers in Kosovo. “When complex procurement data becomes easily searchable and accessible, this transparency portal helps CSOs, investigative journalists, the private sector and public sector oversight bodies to be accountable,” Danton said, adding that the US Government is committed to supporting Kosovo in its fight against corruption. “When the public procurement system works well, and is transparent and accountable, citizens ultimately benefit, and this is the goal of every democratic country,” she said.

The first prize “FOL for Procurement” was awarded to the author Dorentina Kastrati from Kallxo.com, for the story “Suspicious tender for the family of the minister”.This research shows party and family favors during a tendering process in the amount of 400 thousand euros, becoming a legal violation. The research shows how the Municipality of Malisheva had awarded the tender for the construction of a school in this municipality, to the company of the brother of the Minister of Trade and Industry. That there were irregularities during this tendering process has been ascertained twice by Procurement Review Body. The research also shows that documents were manipulated by the contracting authority to the detriment of the companies that competed, in order to favor the company of the minister’s brother. The author said that research in the field of procurement serves as an example of how within a tender there are many violations which are related either politically or family. Among other things, the winner said that through such investigations, we enable prosecutors to deal with such violations, and that such investigations are much easier given the relief given to us by accessing public documents from the OPTP portal.

The second prize was awarded to the author Besnik Krasniqi from Koha Ditore, for the article “Dallavere për hava”. Following the publication of the investigation, the Economic Crimes Police has launched an investigation into the case. The author said that we should remove the masks in procurement cases to be as realistic as possible and that a thank you goes to the civil society who work on this journey.

Meanwhile, the third prize was awarded to co-authors Valon Fana and Vyrtyte Gërvalla, for the article “Municipality of Gazmend Muhaxheri organizes the tender for the family of Ramiz Kelmendi”. This research has addressed a phenomenon that occurs from time to time in public procurement in Kosovo. The research shows how a family of businessmen has been favored in the tender process for the supply of food products to families in need, whose well-being has been aggravated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the publication of the investigation, the Basic Prosecution in Peja has launched an investigation into this matter. The authors said that working in this direction and being evaluated at this award, remains a special feeling and that they will continue their research work in procurement.

Pristine, 18 MAY 2021 – We, the following organizations, are monitoring for the fourth time the selection process of the Commissioner of the Agency for Information and Privacy (AIP), continuously contributing to the development of a fair process and preventing the selection of not worthy candidates. Through this reaction we express our concern about the recent decision of the Commission which determines that each member of this Commission is a participant in the Selection Panel for the evaluation and selection of the shortlist of candidates for the election of the Commissioner of the Agency for Information and Privacy (AIP).This decision was taken at the meeting held on 20.04.2021 with 6 (six) votes FOR and 2 (two) votes against.

The selection of this Panel is regulated by the Law on Personal Data Protection, respectively by Article 60 of this law.

In accordance with paragraph 5 of this article, the Selection Panel submits to the relevant Commission the list of candidates for Commissioner, to then proceed with the selection of the shortlist. The Commission proposal proposes the reason why the Panel has given priority to some candidates, compared to other candidates.

This means that in this case, the shortlist of candidates for Commissioner of the Information and Privacy Agency, the Selection Panel would submit and justify itself.

This action of the deputies of this Commission, in addition to contradicting the previous practice decided by the members of the Commission of previous legislatures, creates a negative precedent that would directly affect the legitimacy of the entire selection process of the Commissioner of the Information Agency and Privacy.

Based on the political representation of the members of this Commission, the composition of the Selection Panel by each member of this Commission would create a presumptive situation of selecting the shortlist of candidates for Commissioner of the Information and Privacy Agency based on the political background of the candidates and not based on their professional background.

Therefore, taking into account the sound democratic principles of decision-making and analogous parliamentary procedures, we call for the withdrawal of this decision, so that in the Selection Panel of candidates for the position of Commissioner are not all members of the Committee on Security and Defense , but in the Panel should be selected only one member for each political entity / parliamentary group represented in the Commission.

Pristine, 11 May 2021 – Levizja FOL has held the next FOL debate Open with the Ministers of Kosovo. The next guest was the Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Mrs. Arberie Negavci.

During this meeting we discussed about the planning of the Government Work Plan for 2021, namely the activities assigned by the Ministry of Education in the work plan, work, priorities and challenges that await the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation during this mandate.

Mrs.Negavci presented some of the priorities that this ministry has set for 2021, where their priority was to manage the situation with the pandemic in the short term.

She said that we have defined 5 strategic goals which are already public and are in our governing program and revealed some of them.

Starting with inclusive and digitized education,

Harmonization of vocational schools with the labor market,

Quality management in higher education,

Early education – Distribution of the meal, removal of grading,

Human resources,

Vocational education and training.

During this debate, various questions were received from journalists as well as from online followers.

Pristine, 07 MAY 2021 – The FOL movement has organized today a roundtable discussion, on which occasion it has published the report “Implementation of the Work Plan of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council (KPK) and the State Prosecutor (PSH) for 2020”.

Mexhide Demolli – Nimani, Executive Director of the FOL Movement, said that given the importance and weight of the responsibility of the holders of the institutions of the prosecutorial system, monitoring and analyzing the work of these institutions is of particular importance to civil society. Therefore, according to her, FOL Movement during these months has monitored the level of implementation of the Work Plan of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council and the State Prosecutor for 2020 without being released in the analysis of their quality and effectiveness but only in quantitative terms.

Albana Hasani, Researcher in the FOL Movement, said that the Work Plan of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council for 2020, based on the answers received from this institution, has managed to be realized about 81% by this institution. Meanwhile, according to the answers received by the State Prosecutor, the Work Plan of the State Prosecutor has managed to be realized about 97%

According to Hasani, the publication of data regarding the work and activities of these institutions on the official website of the Prosecutorial System continues to be a concern. According to her, out of 143 realized activities of KPK, on its official website this institution has published data for the realization of only 18 activities, or only for 13% of them, while from all realized activities of the Plan of PSHP work, this instutition has published only 2 activities.

“This therefore remains one of the challenges of these institutions in this regard, and that undoubtedly the continuous publication of the activities carried out, would increase the transparency of these institutions and strengthen public confidence in the work of the Prosecutorial System in general.”

Jetish Maloku, Chairman of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, said that they have managed to fulfill the work plan exactly, adding that the pandemic has prolonged some of the activities.

“We have in mind the circumstances in 2020, unfortunately the pandemic has been the heaviest stone in the Council, it has negatively affected our work. “There is no dilemma that a halved staff has influenced the updating of our activities with the work plan for 2020”, said Maloku.

“I am just happy to see that 81%. “We will take these findings seriously and a report will be introduced where there is room for improvement,” Maloku concluded.

Bahri Hyseni, from the State Prosecutor, said that the FOL report is very real and will affect the advancement of their work in general. He later said that, despite working with reduced staff due to the pandemic, they managed to seize close to 20 million euros, target 9 cases of corruption and file 10 indictments. “The year 2020 is special and I would like all activities to be realized, but we had problems. The advancement of accountability continues all the time “, said Hyseni.

“There are no statute of limitations for the prosecutor, 50 thousand cases have been completed. Although with reduced staff we have reached 113% to complete more courses than have come to us. Strengthening the fight against corruption, 20 million euros have been seized, but we have a problem with confiscation. “Only this month, the Prosecution has seized about 20 million euros”, concluded Hyseni.

Pristine, 05 MAY 2021 – Levizja FOL has held the next FOL debate Open with the Ministers of Kosovo. During this meeting was discussed about the planning of the Government Work Plan for 2021, respectively the activities which are assigned by the Ministry of Justice in this plan, the work, priorities and challenges that await the Minister Mrs. Albulena Haxhiu during this mandate.

During this debate, Mrs. Haxhiu presented some of the priorities that the Ministry of Justice has set in the Work Plan for 2021, a plan which according to it will be approved on May 7 in the Government.

The priorities of the work plan of this ministry are: Functional Review of the Justice System, Vetting in the judicial system, Law on Confiscation of Illegally Acquired Property, Domestic Violence, War Crimes, Establishment of the Institute for War Crimes in Kosovo.

FOL will continue to organize debates with ministers during the month of May.

Speech by Minister Haxhiu

Discussion organized by the FOL Movement

Today, Minister Albulena Haxhiu, in a discussion format organized by the FOL Movement, expressed the positions and priorities of the Ministry of Justice.

Minister Haxhiu emphasized that the experience and commitment during the Kurti I government, although in a short period, has enabled the recognition of problems and the scanning of the internal situation within this institution, while returning now, the immediate dynamics regarding the priorities of this government, respectively the Ministry of Justice, while announcing that on Friday this week will be approved the governing program which will go to the Assembly to be discussed and debated with MPs.

Addressing the priorities of the Ministry of Justice, Minister Haxhiu stressed that we are already in the phase of drafting the strategy and completing the Functional Review process. This process started some time ago, and its importance does not allow us to be late, although its implementation remains an obvious challenge. Given the fact that the credibility of citizens in justice institutions has fallen extremely much, vetting is more than necessary to happen as this is already a social requirement and there is no dilemma whether or not there should be vetting. In this regard, the Minister stressed that she has already approved the working group for vetting in the justice system and also thanked the representatives of institutions, as well as representatives of civil society who have applied to be part of this body to make this process as efficient as possible and produce the desired results. More broadly, the Minister said that initially the concept document is being drafted, which will be voted in the government, and then the draft law or constitutional amendments will be drafted.

“The first challenge we will have will be: will we not go to constitutional or legal changes,” said the Minister.

For this reason, according to the ministries, we must inevitably have plan B, taking into account the fact that the constitution changes to make the vote by 2/3 of the assembly, and two / 3 of the vote no larger.

Addressing the fight against organized crime and corruption is the other direction for for which it has already been voted and the concept paper for the confiscation of unjustifiable face, while today a working group will be established for drafting the law.

Addressing war crimes is another area in which the Ministry of Justice will engage. Although more than 20 years have passed since the end of the war, there are only 4 prosecutors dealing with the most monstrous crimes that occurred during that period. In order to strengthen the commitment in this direction, it is expected that sometime in the middle of this month a working group will be established for the institute for crimes committed in Kosovo, while in parallel work is underway to strengthen the special prosecutor’s office to address these crimes, and so far amendment to the code of criminal procedure, which will create the opportunity for trial in absentia.

Addressing domestic violence is also one of the priorities for which there will be a committed commitment so that cases of gender-based violence or domestic violence do not remain as isolated cases, but the state through institutional mechanisms to prevent a phenomenon of such that still continues to follow our society in the Republic of Kosovo. The national coordinator, also Deputy Minister Nita Shala, has already been appointed, and is working with security and justice institutions to take concrete decisions in such cases.

The need for serious action and non-negligence is decisive for making progress in this regard, starting from the police, the prosecution to court decisions.

The Minister had the opportunity to answer various questions that were asked during this discussion.