According to the information published by KoSSev informative portal, 42 judges of the Serbian judicial system in Kosovo are invited to take the oath of office before the President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci tomorrow.
According to KoSSev, they are supposed to start working within the Kosovo judicial system on October 23, which is the date when the Kosovo courts should start working in northern Kosovo, an information they have received from the Kosovo Judicial Council. KoSSev reminds that on October 17, according to earlier agreement between Kosovo and Serbian Presidents – Hashim Thaci and Aleksandar Vučić, the agreement between Belgrade and Pristina on judiciary should be “fully implemented”.
KoSSev tried to get the official confirmation of the information that the Serbian judges would take an oath to office tomorrow before the President Hashim Thaci, but they were not able to get the official confirmation. Kosovo Judicial Council told KoSSev that they are “very optimistic” about it.
“The invitation was sent to 42 judges and we do not know if they will go tomorrow or not. Until tomorrow I really cannot say anything, but we are very optimistic that this will happen tomorrow,” General Director of the Kosovo Judicial Council’s Secretariat, Shkelzen Maliqi told KoSSev, explaining that taking of the oath should be held, according to the previous practice, before the President of Kosovo, in Pristina.
When asked when the Serbian judges should start to work, if they take an oath tomorrow, Maliqi said:
“According to an agreement between the two presidents in Brussels they should show up on October 23. On that day the court building in the north, prosecution in South Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Leposavić – everyone should start working, and this is in accordance with the agreement between the two presidents”.
KoSSev further reports that one of the prerequisites for the integration of Serbian judges, prosecutors and administrative staff into the Kosovo system was the termination of employment in the Serbian judicial system. As KoSSev unofficially finds out, the termination of their employment is regulated, similar to the members of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, by special or premature retirement.
