Anxiety, distrust and struggle for preservation of their own positions

It is an atmosphere in which Serbs in northern Kosovo await the court in Mitrovica, which, according to agreements from Brussels, should become operational this September. For the first time since the end of the 1999 conflict, Albanians and Serbs in the north will claim the justice from the institution which both recognize as their own, thanks to an agreement signed by their political leaders. However, as in most other things here, the expectations of lawyers from the opening of this Court differ significantly, depending on which side of the Ibar they come.

The Brussels agreement on Justice was signed in February this year by the prime ministers of Serbia and Kosovo, Aleksandar Vucic and Isa Mustafa. It provides the establishment of the Municipal Court in Mitrovica, which will be housed in two buildings. Part of the Court will be located in the existing court building in the northern part of the city, while the second will be in the building of Jugobanka south of the bridge over the Ibar River. In addition to the court, the agreement in Brussels also includes the beginning of work of the Basic Prosecution Office in September, which will also be located in northern Mitrovica.

What are the jurisdictions?

In the court building in North will work 10 Albanian judges and 14 judges of Serbian nationality. This court will have jurisdiction over serious crimes, general crimes and civil matters. Basic Court in Mitrovica will have 14 Albanian and 11 judges of Serbian nationality and will deal with minor crimes, juvenile delinquency and civil procedures. In each of the buildings, 54 staff members of the majority and 26 from the minority nationalities will be working. In addition, the court will have branches in Zubin Potok and Leposavic/Leposaviq, Serbian majority municipalities, with two Serbian judges and seven staff members.

In the prosecutor’s office will work 18 prosecutors, nine from each side. In the north will also be a branch of the Appellate Court with two judges of Albanian nationality and five of Serbian. The Court of Appeal will be the second instance for all disputes in which Serbs are parties and in other courts in Kosovo.
 
President Judge shall be a Serb, Chief prosecutor an Albanian, while the head of a branch of the Appellate Court also will be a Serb. The courts will apply the laws of Kosovo and this frightens the Serbian community in the north. In Mitrovica, everything, even the law, is viewed through the lens of ethnic conflict. Hence the anxiety that a common court, that will apply the Kosovo legislation, will be used as the Kosovo policies extended arm which is considered as anti-Serb. But none of the members of the judicial community in northern Mitrovica will tell this in public. The reason for this is that the fear of drowning into the Kosovo institutions pales in comparison to the fear of losing a job; and the Brussels agreement undoubtedly offers jobs.

-By accepting the Brussels agreement we have found a way to fight through the institutions. Or you’re at the table, or you’re on it – says a source who understands judicial matters in northern Kosovo. The requirement for conversation is, of course, anonymity.

Although for filling positions in courts and prosecutors’ offices, the Kosovo’s judicial institutions organized competitions, in order to select nominally the best staff, the implementation is extremely untransparent. And a lack of transparency creates an excellent climate for posting politically loyal people. From well-informed sources we have learned that positions in the courts are almost full, but as we were told, it is not just about appointing people, but they need to appoint the right people.

And the reason for appointing “the right people” is precisely because the judicial power is seen as a field of political struggle. “It is very important that we got, by the Agreement, control positions in the Court of Appeal. They give us ten years, we give three. They give us a serious crime, we revise it,” says our source.

A series of questions remain open

Signing the agreement, which the political leaders on both sides, predictably, have presented as their own victory, left open a number of questions to which the answer is almost impossible to get through official channels. One of these is what will happen with Serbian judges who do not want to integrate? The Serbian Constitution clearly states that the function of a judge is permanent and therefore the state must find a place for those people who refuse to judge by the laws of Kosovo. According to our interlocutor, no one will have to integrate, if they do not want.  He claims that it was agreed with the Serbian officials to bring a law for these people, which would allow judges from Kosovo to go to early retirement. Serbia should pay pension, which would amount to 90 per cent of the salary they now receive.

There are legal concerns and with those judges who agreed to judge by the laws of Kosovo. Several times was raised the question of whether they will have to become citizens of Kosovo in order to do their job?

-Oh, what nationality, what kind of oath, none of this will be. To them (Kosovo officials) is important the last station, which is that it will be judged according to the laws of Kosovo – our interlocutor is precise.

On the other hand, the Court in Vucitrn/Vushtrri, located on the southern side of the Ibar, rejects the possibility of using the implementation of the agreement in Brussels for any legal discrimination against citizens of Serbian nationality. Bunjaku Percuku, president of the Municipal Court in Vucitrn/Vushtrri, told Danas that the joint court will contribute the legal regulation of life in the whole of Mitrovica.

No alternative

In such a situation, where each phenomenon is viewed through ethnic dimension, it is difficult to expect that citizens in the north of Kosovo will accept without reservation the new legal system. The wounds are too fresh and mistrust deeply rooted. However, the real alternative to the new court does not exist.

Citizens know all too well how much legal (in) security they had in the years after the conflict. As we were told by more people, after the war, in practice, in the north of Kosovo functioned two Courts, one in the north and one in the South. The one in the north has enjoyed the trust of the citizens of Serbian nationality and had, with modest abilities, sincere desire to work, but it had no police to enforce the Court decisions.

On the other hand, the court on the other side of town has had the police to enforce the decisions, but in general it registered the cases, without court procedures, knowing too well that the Court does not enjoy legitimacy in the north.

And while they were all engaged with high politics and status issues, this paradox has left the North in complete legal anarchy.

Whether the new Court will improve the situation in this area remains to be seen. It ultimately depends primarily on the members of the judiciary and their willingness and ability to resist politics. If they are equal before the law, citizens of all nationalities will have confidence in the new court, and the nationality will be less important.