President Thaci's amnesty decision between breach and chain effect

The decision of the first state, Hashim Thaci, to release three Albanian convicts from prison in the process known as “ratit Kichina”, as well as a Serb dealt with reactions.

Thaci has issued a decree, Arben Kicina, Arsim Ramadanin and Burim Ramadani. They were in prison for more than 15 years.

Such action, some find it inappropriate, since their release may have a chain effect, writes Koha.net.

At Thaci's address only because they have started to go to other public calls to free high figures of is h -KLA. KLA's OVL today asked Thaci to release Sylejman Selimin prison, convicted of case “Drenica” and Azem Syla, suspected of organised crime.

Legal experts, on the other hand, have told about the Coha.net portal where the president's right to pardon prisoners is limited.

Reactions After the Decision

Former Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu, in a proposal for Koha.net, said he hopes the move is taken on legal grounds. He has said, however, that there is not much information about the Kichina case.

For this case I heard earlier, I don't know exactly if it ended up in legal terms”, Sejdiu told Koha.net February, without wanting to give more comments.

I don't want to judge anyone or Thaci's action”, he said. Thaci's decision has been described as far from fair, writer and publicist Veton Surroi. He said the president may have made the pardon of three men in the Kichina case only on his own behalf, but not as the country's first. He has recalled the possibility that another three and a nine years old were killed in the murder.

“Adelina Hayra three years old and Mimoza Hajra nine were killed on 20 August 2001 in Drenas. Condemned of killing girls were pardoned by Hashim Thaci, a leader of the Kosovo president's office. He may have done it in his name, not in my name as a citizen of Kosovo”, wrote Surroi, broadcast Koha.net.

On the other hand, there were those who welcomed the decision. Vetevendosje MP Shqipe Pantina has said they are falsely accused and happy that the amnists are now at large.

The president has housed the accused in the Kichina case, who is unjustly accused and convicted of a crime they have not committed. It's good that these boys are free today and have returned to their families, but it's a pity they haven't been released from court as innocent and not to be forgiven for a guilt they don't have. I want to believe that justice in this case, too, will prevail and that the real killers will receive due punishment and that the up to date indictees will be declared innocent”, wrote Pantina, broadcast Koha.net.

But Betim Musliu, executive director of the Kosovo Institute for Justice, has considered that killing the Hajra family is a macabre and that convicts actually deserve eternal punishment.

“Rasti Kicina is one of the most commented cases of court rulings by the proclamation of judgment. First of all, it should be noted that the act of killing the Hajra family, the children of this family, respectively, is the macabre murder, which in my personal judgment, deserves eternal punishment. Second, the court process in Hajra case and its administration leave much to be desired in terms of fair law enforcement, convincing the public that the judgment is based on managing evidence and evidence”, Musliu told Koha.net.

According to Musliu, the bias in this case has also been commented on by acts of justice and professionals who are practicers of law enforcement as a failed act of judgment in terms of fulfilling legal obligations, summing up and arguing the evidence and evidence on which guilt is pronounced and the sentence pronounced.

“Anyway, there is an act of definite form and it must be implemented, while for every defect it must only follow the legal ways, which in this case have been lacking in the use of roads and legal means in Strasbourg, the mechanism that is not accessible by Kosovo citizens. While there is this situation, the bias has only one way, its implementation”, he said.

President violates Law criteria for Forgiveness

In the number 03/L-094 law, for the president of Kosovo, it is said that the decree to declare forgiveness is possible, so the president of Kosovo, has the opportunity to pardon those convicted of murder, writes Koha.net.

But Musliu says that such a thing depends on the weight of a person's crime in question and was not implemented in this case.

President Thaci's apology “can be interpreted in several ways. Based on all these dilemmas set up in the act of the Kichina case, it seems in principle that the president has made attempts to Saut all that is allegedly done as unjust in their case. Also in formal legal terms, the criminal act of killing in principle is not prohibited from being pardoned by the president. The Law for Forgiveness in the Republic of Kosovo prohibits only the forgiveness of convicted persons under Head X III or Head XIV of the Kosovo Criminal Code for Criminal Work Against Kosovo or its citizens or against international law. In this context, there is no criminal offence in the murder for which everyone has been convicted in the Kichina case. On the other hand, while this work is permitted to be forgiven, the Law for Forgiveness has set the criteria that can be taken into account - the burden of crime; the risk of genocide; the sincere repentance; and the displaying of respectful conduct and character. In this regard, the context of this case again must be analyzed, he said.

According to Musliu, Thaci's pardons are condemned for a cruel murder of a family where he had children. If the decree is based on the formal aspect of this sentence, the president has had to respect the legal criteria, including the weight of crime and genuine repentance.

The two criteria in this case are not respected because the crime burden is one of the most serious criminal acts of cruel murder, while the aspect of genuine repentance has never occurred because convicts claim their innocence in this case. So in this judgment, I appreciate that violations of the Law's criteria for pardon have been made in the case of the proclamation of this decree”, Musliu said.

Musliu said that if all other factors in the Kichina case are analysed then there is another context of this trial case, given the content of the act, evidence and evidence, which leave much room to comment on the guilt of convicted persons.

“Anyway, as long as there is an act of formal court form, he should be respected and his correction should be done exclusively through legal ways. Unfortunately, it is President Thaci and this political elite that are stuck in Kosovo at this stage where only one elite has gained everything, while citizens of the Republic of Kosovo continue to remain without prosperity, without visa liberalisation, without clear prospects and without access to justice in international mechanisms. If the walk of the state of Kosovo were normal steps, now Kosovo would have been part of international law access mechanisms, such as the Strasbourg Court, in which the case of Kichina and the convicts, would have offered for consideration all claims of their innocence, which they publish every day in the media”, he said.

But Musliu says the pardon Thaci made, initially started by the two former Kosovo presidents -- Fatmir Sejdiu and Jakup Krasniqi -- who was task leaders for a time when the Constitutional ouster brought Sejdiu down because he had held the president's and LDK post.

He says both in their mandates have pardoned persons convicted contrary to the Law criteria for forgiveness.

“The IKD estimates that the forgiveness of convicts has been severely abused by the two former presidents, Fatmir Sejdiu and Jakup Krasniqi. Both of these former presidents have pardoned convicts contrary to the Law criteria for pardon. If this time returned by President Thaci then this would pose a risk to the legal and physical security of Kosovo citizens, because society invests that through the justice system, persons committing crimes, isolate them from society to eliminate their risks, and if these categories are without merit and contrary to the law are forgiven, then this poses serious concern for our judicial and physical security”, he said.

For this, Musliu said such reasons have prompted the IKD to insist that there be vetoing policemen, prosecutors and judges so that this judicial authority can ensure judicial security for all citizens of the Republic of Kosovo.

The chain effect of Thaci's decision, anti-international climate

Likewise, Valmir Ismaili from the non-governmental organisation Democracy Plus, for Koha.net, said Thaci's amnesty values him as unfair, even saying that pardoning random Kicina convicts could have chain effects.

With constitutions and law, the president has the right to extend forgiveness to convicts for criminal acts. However, the president-elect case is a little more specific, and more appears to be within these recent moves of Mr. Thaci, trying to create a kind of anti-international climate in Kosovo. I say this by seeing the movements for the abolition of the Special Court and given that the Kishina case is one of the most complicated cases being handled by EULEX”, Ismaili said.

Ismaili added that these actions of Thaci and other explorers are trying to send a message that the functioning of the Special Court can bring destabilisation but also the creation of the spirit that the international factor opposes KLA, which is not true.

Ismaili says that the case with which the Constitution was taken, based on the weight of their crime, should not be forgiven by the president.

“Rasti Kicina has been one of the most complicated post-war complicated in Kosovo, has even been handled by the Constitutional Court. Therefore, given the weight of crime, the president would not have to forgive such ones. If the president or anyone else has evidence that convicted persons are innocent, they would have to follow other ways to prove their innocence”, he added.

Of course, each now with the other regardless of the type of criminal act may demand amnesty from the president because there is already a precedent. The purpose of the Law for Forgiveness is not that, it aims to offer the possibility of a certain category of convicts, but not even cases such as this one that President” has used, Ismaili concluded.

We remember that today the KLA's OVL, under the division of gratitude for ex-military women, at “Veterani's”, used the opportunity to appeal to Prime Minister Thaci and Prime Minister Haradinaj to release “Sultan”

I had also made a public invitation to the president, the prime minister, parliament speaker to take another step towards the release of two unjustly held commanders in prison, Sylejman Selimi and Azem Syla. So we ask them to take this step from tomorrow”, said Hysni Gucati, chairman of the KLA War Veterans Organisation.

The five-member Hamez Hajra family had been killed in the car by an automatic hail of weapons in August 2001. Courts of all institutions from 2003 to 2012 have found Burim and Arsim Ramadani and Arben guilty, Blerim, living Kichina for the murder.