Only a small proportion of those found guilty of corruption in Kosovo end up in prison, the 12th court monitoring report produced by BIRN and Internews Kosova finds.

Few corruption-related court cases in Kosovo end with a prison sentence, BIRN Kosovo and Internews Kosova's annual court monitoring report for 2017, presented on Tuesday, said.

Since the first such report, 12 years ago, the project has monitored over 10,000 court sessions, revealing important evidence of violations and failings within the judiciary in Kosovo.

Reporters on corruption and organised crime in the Balkans are subject to a range of different pressures and challenges – as our comparison of reporting on such cases in Bosnia, Kosovo and Serbia shows.

Organised crime and corruption are among the key challenges facing the societies of the Western Balkans, with corruption in particular being a key grievance for ordinary citizens and voters.

As in any democracy, the media play a crucial role when it comes to informing the public on these subjects and shaping public debates.

Kosovo’s chief prosecutor, Aleksander Lumezi, said that he was not pleased with results in the fight against corruption. Speaking at the meeting of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, Lumezi said measures need to be taken to improve the track record of corruption fight. “We do not have satisfactory results in the fight against corruption,” he said.

British Ambassador, Ruairi O’Connell said Kosovo’s main challenge is fighting corruption, especially at the high level. “Corruption destroys the country, prevents economic development,” said O’Connell at a presentation of a Kosovo Law Institute report. He also said Kosovo has not achieved a positive track record of fighting corruption. “There is no high-level conviction.

The lack of a functioning judicial system is the main reason for corruption in the north, along with the non-existence of a law protecting whistle-blowers, so there is neither physical nor legal protection of those who would warn on corruption, concluded participants at the discussion organized in EU Info Centre in Mitrovica North, Kontakt plus radio reported.

Yesterday began the celebration of the Anti-Corruption Week in Kosovo by the press conference of the ambassadors of the Quintus countries. Journalists of the Serbian media who followed this event were left without the translation, reports Kossev.

In Kosovo, for the second year in a row, a week dedicated to the fight against corruption is organized, which, with the support of the US Embassy and USAID, is organized by a coalition of non-governmental organizations.

International officials in Kosovo called on the local institutions to step up fight against corruption and empower the rule of law. In an event organised to mark the Anti-Corruption Week, head of the EU Office in Kosovo and Special Representative, Nataliya Apostolova, said fight of corruption is a step that needs to be undertaken as part of Kosovo’s European integration. “For the EU, the fight against corruption is one of the priorities and key messages I wish to pass on today.

Kosovo-based non-governmental organization FOL, presented today statistics regarding court’s performance on addressing corruption cases covering the period between January and June 2017. Jeton Zylfaj, programme manager at FOL, said this period marked an increase of court performance by 120% but that there is still a backlog of cases which the court need to address.

This article on police corruption was originally published in Sbunker, a Kosovo-based current affairs blog dealing with politics, society, culture and economics.

By Plator Avdiu (KCSS)

The news website reports that Kosovo has lost millions of U.S. aid due to its failure to efficiently combat corruption. Namely, the Board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an independent U.S. government agency working to reduce global poverty through economic growth, has decided to drop Kosovo from the “Compact” program to the “MCC threshold” program, after Kosovo authorities failed to achieve progress in the fight against corruption.