Prosecutors, judges from the north expected to be executed by Thaci

Kosovo Judiciary Council chief Nehat Idrizi told Radio Free Europe that under the Brussels Agreement, the work of courts in northern Kosovo will begin within this month.

On Tuesday, the decree is preceded, and on October 28th, work should begin practically. There are also some preparations to complete. I can tell you there are 42 judges working in the courts. We are hoping that everything will go according to the dynamics that are envisioned with the” agreement, Idrizi said.

He said that from contacts that have been developed with authority in Brussels, even the Serbian side has fulfilled all obligations on issues related to the justice system in the north.

Intermediators from Brussels have said they will fulfil all obligations, since we have no direct contact with them, we [contacts] do them through Brussels. We are hoping that the implementation of the” agreement will finally occur, Idrizi said.

Even at the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, they say all preparations and plans have been made under the agreement reached in Brussels for prosecutors to start working in northern Kosovo.

Blerim Isufaj, head of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, told Radio Free Europe that they do not know when the job will start, but are ready for work.

We are hoping that the [work] will begin, but whether the justice system will start in that part or not, this is actually not what I can say. For what's been asked of us, we've taken all the right actions, including recruiting prosecutors, personnel, securing objects, job equipment. Everything is ready for starting”, Isufaj said.

At the Prosecutorial Council, they expect on Tuesday, Kosovo's president will decree new prosecutors, including those Serbs who will work in the north.

“Procurials, totaling 14, nine will be Serbs working in the northern part of Kosovo, while the rest will be distributed in all instances of the prosecutorial system in the entire territory of Kosovo”, Isufaj said.

The Brussels Agreement on Justice between Kosovo and Serbia, which concerns integration into the Kosovo system of Serbian judges and prosecutors from the country's north, was reached in February 2015.

The presidents of Kosovo and Serbia, Hashim Thaci and Aleksandar Vuciq, after a meeting at the end of August agreed with the European Union's foreign policy chief's mediation, Federica Moghrini, that implementation of the Agreement on Justice reached within the dialogue will begin to be implemented as of 17 October, 2017.

In a response to Radio Free Europe, Maja Kocianciq, spokeswoman for EU High Representative Federica Moghrini, has said the justice agreement is actually expected to go into effect tomorrow.

“Just as the presidents of Serbia and Kosovo agreed on August 31st 2017, on the basic agreement on EU facilitated dialogue, the justice agreement is actually expected to take effect tomorrow. All actions have been completed for the integration of Serbian justice personnel into Kosovo's judicial system, and both sides have fulfilled their obligations in this regard”, Kocincic said in a written response.

Meanwhile, Dusan Radakovic, executive director of the non-governmental organisation “Centre for representation of democratic culture”, said the oath and signing of contracts are expected to take place on Tuesday, so that judges and prosecutors start working.

According to the information we have, tomorrow, judges and prosecutors will have organised transport to travel to Pristina, where they should sign contracts and a kind of oath that reconciliation has been achieved in Brussels and that is neutral to status. The administrative staff, which will also work in Kosovo's court, the contracts will sign at the EULEX court, right here at us, north of”, Radakovic said.

With the implementation of the Agreement on Justice, it is pre-arranged to erase Serbian courts and prosecutors in Kosovo and Serbia, which so far have been dealing with subjects from Kosovo territory.

For the Mitrovica region, a Constitutional Court is envisioned, which will operate in two objects. The prosecution will operate in an object in the north. Judges and prosecutors will work together and will not be divided on ethnic grounds. The Court of Appeals will also be located north.

At the helm of the prosecution in Mitrovica will be an Albanian, meanwhile at the helm of the Appeals Court will be a Serb. Currently, the Constitutional Court of Mitrovica is operating in Vushtrri, while courts in northern Mitrovica are operating under Serbia's justice system.

Kosovo and Serbia have reached the first agreement on normalising relations in April 2013.