Albin Kurti remains in house arrest until 17 February

(All monitored broadcasters, KTV)

Former leader of Vetëvendosje Movement and Kosovo Assembly MP Albin Kurti will remain in house arrest until 17 February of the next year, coinciding with the anniversary of Kosovo’s independence.   On Monday, the Basic Court in Prishtinë/Pristina extended the house for Albin Kurti.

Kurti was arrested on 28 November in Prishtinë/Pristina after participating and holding a speech at a gathering of the opposition parties.  He was indicted under suspicion of throwing teargas during the sessions at Assembly Hall.

KTV also reported that Prishtinë/Pristina Basic Court ordered a 30-day detention for Vetëvendosje’s activist, Nol Nushi.

Vetëvendosje Movement reacted against the measures imposed to Kurti and Nushi.

Vetëvendosje called upon the Government to stop its pressure against the opposition and urged Courts to bring the real violators of the Constitution to justice.

Thaçi: PDK-LDK agreement to be respected until the end

(Most monitored broadcasters, Klan Kosova)

Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister, Hashim Thaçi said that the post of the President of Kosovo is not his lifetime goal, but he emphasized that the agreement between PDK-LDK should be respected until the end.

In an interview for TV Dukagjini, Thaçi considered that the appointment of Kosovo’s President should be unification of political specter and not of unreasonable clashes and disputes.

Thaçi said that Kosovo government will respect entirely the opinion of the Constitutional Court on the Association of Serb majority municipalities. He reiterated that there will be no renegotiation of the agreement on the Association.

Stojanovic: Srpska List against establishment of Kosovo Armed Forces

(TV21) 

Unlikely that Kosovo will have its own army in 2016. Minister of Kosovo Security Force (KSF), Haki Demolli, said that they are close to finalize their stances with Srpska List.

On the other hand, Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister, Branimir Stojanovic from Srpska List, emphasized that they have not changed their stance and reiterated that they will vote against the establishment of Kosovo Armed Forces (KAF).

Stojanovic said that it is not the first time when their stances differ from the coalition partners, but he emphasized that the establishment of Armed Forces is not part of their coalition agreement with LDK and PDK.

Meanwhile, Minister Demolli expressed convinced that the Kosovo Armed Forces will be established during 2016.

While, Stojanovic said that the establishment of KAF is not a priority even for the internationals. He expressed opened to discuss all the issues, but according to Stojanovic this is not the right time to discuss about potential establishment of KAF.

Also security experts consider that Kosovo will not have its army in 2016, because, as they said, the transformation of KSF to KAF involves a high cost which has not been foreseen in the 2016 budget.

Vetëvendosje pelted Memli Krasniqi with eggs

(Most monitored broadcasters, KTV)

Kosovo Minister of Agriculture, Memli Krasniqi, has been pelted with eggs by Vetëvendosje Movement activists.

A press release issued by Vetëvendosje says: “Minister Krasniqi is one of the most eager defenders of the unconstitutional actions of the Government and has defended the agreements signed by the Government”. Vetëvendosje also criticized Krasniqi for failing to develop the agriculture sector.

Moreover, Vetëvendosje announced that while carrying out this action, Vetëvendosje activist, Egzon Ademi has been brutally beaten by six or seven bodyguards of Memli Krasniqi.

Peci: Serbs are delaying the implementation of the Agreement on Courts

(Klan Kosova)

Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC) chairperson, Enver Peci accuses the Serbs for delays in implementing Brussels Agreement on Courts. According to Peci, Serbs from the north are requesting more than what was agreed.

KJC submitted to Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga 34 names of new judges for decree, instead of 48, since they did not had enough candidates.  Majority of the new judges are Serbs, but there are judges from other non-majority communities. All of them should work in the Basic Prosecution in Mitrovica/Mitrovicë based on the agreement reached between Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels.

But they have not been decreed and the Court in Mitrovicë/Mitrovica has not been functionalized yet.

According to KJC chairperson, Enver Peci Serbs are requesting more than the agreement.

“The Agreement on Judiciary reached between Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels foresees appointment of the president of the Basic Court of Mitrovica/Mitrovicë from Serb community. This condition has been fulfilled. In meantime Serbs made a request asking also the administrator of this Court to be a Serb. We strongly opposed this request. And this lead to the clash,” said Peci.

The biggest issue remains hiring of the new staff, but even here the Serbs have conditions. They demand to hire the support staff that used to work in the parallel system, which according to Peci, is a big number that they cannot accommodate.

“When it comes to integration of the supporting staff, they [Serbs] have had an enormous staff alleging that they all worked within their system,” said Peci.

Court in Mitrovicë/Mitrovica was anticipated to be operational in beginning of October, but despite these obstacles, Peci says that the agreement does not risk failure.

Mayor Asllanaj expels two journalists from his annual press conference

(KTV)

The mayor of Suharekë/Suva Reko municipality, Sali Asllanaj during his end of year press conference, did not allow Koha journalist, Uran Haxha and the journalist of the news portal “TherandaPost”, to attend the press conference.

Despite the fact that both journalists were invited by email to attend the annual press conference of Mayor Asllanaj, they were informed by the municipal official for information, Reshat Reshitaj, that Mayor Asllanaj does not want their presence in the conference.

The Association of Kosovo Journalists (AKJ) reacted against this incident and considered the action of Mayor Asllanaj as a flagrant violation of the right to access information and in contradiction with the values of the freedom of media.

Government’s initiative to amend the Law on Access to Public Documents criticized

(KTV)

The Law on Access to Public Documents is one of the most important laws to ensure the transparency and this law is being attempted to be amended for the third time.

Kosovo Government drafted a concept paper of about the Law on accessing public documents. This concept paper offers five options in relation to the existing law.

The first option presented in the concept paper is not to amend the law, while the three others options consists of: establishing Information Commissioner ; reforming the National Agency for Personal Data Protection (NAPDP), which would be called the Information Commissioner; establishing a new particular institution while the last option is to work more in implementing the existing law.

Flutura Kusari, a media law expert, considers as dangerous such initiatives by the Government.

“Government’s initiative to delegate the supervision of the implementation of the  this Law to the National Agency for Personal Data Protection is a dangerous initiative and will contribute to the non-transparency of public authorities. NAPDP has demonstrated that it is over politicized to contribute to the transparency”, Kusari said.

Kusari considers that the role of Ombudsperson should be strengthened.

“Public institutions should strengthen and respect the role of the Ombudsperson while the supervision and implementation of the Law on Access to Public Documents should continue to be done through the Institution of the Ombudsperson,” said Kusari.

NAPDP welcomes the establishment of such a mechanism, but Mentor Hoxhaj of this Agency says that this would impact the budget of the state. However, he considers that the establishment of the Information Commissioner within the Agency would be the best solution rather than establishing a new body.

On the other hand Kosovo government spokesperson, Arban Abrashi said that the amendment of the law is necessary because, as he said, this was a recommendation deriving from EC 2015 Progress Report.

According to Abrashi, one of the main issues of this law is the supervision, which is assigned to the Ombudsperson. Abrashi noted that many EU member countries have the Information Commissioner who is responsible for the Law on Access to Public documents.