FOL Open with the Minister of Justice Mrs. Albulena Haxhiu

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.