Will the drop of tear gas be housed in the Assembly?

There are 15 top state officials, including deputies and ministers, to whom there are judicial procedures at the Constitutional Court in Pristina, due to the drop of tear gas during the last term of the Parliament. Currently, the judicial process is taking place only towards the four deputies of the Vetevendosje Movement, but on the list of those dropping tear gas, there are also deputies or senior government officials from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo and the Initiative for Kosovo.

Ahmet Isufi, chief of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo Parliamentary Group, told Radio Free Europe, the initiative is under way and is expected to end during January, when Kosovo's Assembly is expected to resume.

The amnesty initiative of MPs has been taken to the Parliament of Kosovo protocol in the Secretary of the Parliament, so that we can move on and carry out this process because we are dealing with purely political actions, so it is meaningless that the Kosovo Parliament MPs are treated in such a way as this has happened thus far”, Isufi said.

Isufi expresses the conviction that amnesty of MPs is possible, since, as he says, MPs' actions have been to prevent agreements that have damaged the country's interest, such as the one for the Association of Serb majority municipalities and Demarcation with Montenegro.

“Deputates are aware of their role, therefore dealing with imprisonment, with such judgments and actions, lowers the image of the Kosovo Assembly and also gives a bad image to Kosovo in front of the international community, given that it is a violation of democracy in the country”, Isufi said.

Meanwhile, lawyer Arianan Koci thinks amnesty of MPs who have thrown tear gas in the Assembly is possible, if any legal change is made in the current legislation.

It is obvious that MPs have used gas as a means of realising political goals. It is the authority of the court to decide whether there are elements of the criminal act. I have understood that some MPs have undertaken an initiative to establish an amnesty law on these deputies. If votes are made for this law, then of course” will be amnistered, Koci said.

Just in terms of cases related to the drop of tear gas in the Assembly, the first court processes against the four deputies of the Vetevendosje Movement have begun. Two of them, Albin Kurti and Donika Kadaj-Bujupi, have also been held in custody. But they have been released Friday, since the court has estimated that they have ceased all the legal causes for which this provision is designated.

The trial for the four deputies of Vetevendosje will be announced on 3 January 2018. Albin Kurti, Donika Kadaj-Bujupim, Albulen Haxhiu and Faton Topalli are accused of using weapons, or dangerous means, and obstructing the official person in carrying out official duty.

In December 2015, but also during the subsequent plenary hearings, opposition deputies -- then belonging to political subjects Movement Vetevendosje, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo and the Initiative for Kosovo, opposing agreements on the Association of Serb majority municipalities and the Agreement on Border Demarkation with Montenegro -- have put tear gas within the Parliament hall, thus able to keep several times the regular Kosovo Assembly sessions.