Is corruption really being fought in Kosovo?

However, representatives of the Kosovo judicial system told Radio Free Europe that the work done in the direction of fighting corruption has produced positive results.

Justice Agim Maliqi, a member of the Commission for Implementation of the Action Plan for the selection of corruption substances, said there are more than 500 subjects for which verdicts have been taken or are expected to be made in courts.

“in all courts on the job are 276 subjects, while accepted are 262 subjects. That means we have a greater number of completed materials than those that are in the process. There are many cases of persons who are convicted of contempt of formal form and prison sentences, and these persons are serving sentences at relevant correctional centres”, Maliqi said.

Maliqi said that by referring to data from basic and appeals courts, it turns out there is a trend of increasing the largest number of materials that have been resolved. However, he has not wanted to talk about cases of high-level corruption.

We as a commission do not share high profile subjects. We as a commission deal with all the subjects that enter the group of anti-corruption criminal acts, which are first based on chapter 34 of the Republic of Kosovo Criminal Code. For us it's only relevant whether you get into the corruption subject chapter, and it's treated as such material”, Maliqi said.

But, nongovernmental organisations that monitor the work of the justice system in Kosovo say that, from the inside side, a large part of the charges involving cases of corruption filed by prosecutors have been rejected by the courts.

Betim Musliu, from the Kosovo Institute for Justice, says the justice system in Kosovo is caught by politics and, as he puts it, this system is imposing very high officials allegedly involved in acts of corruption.

“Ende in Kosovo prisons is not condemned by any high profile official for corruption criminal acts , hence it is an amnesty which is virtually daily given to senior officials from the justice system, which has an explanation for why there is no results and this explanation is that this system is caught by politics and politics is rewarded with immunity”, Musliu said.

He stressed that the justice system, although it has declared corruption factors as a priority, has failed to provide any arguments that have practically made prosecution and efficient judgment.

“has existed a rhetoric of political parties and powers in legislative and executives that should have zero tolerance of corruption. This rhetoric of political parties and rulers has become rhetorical to the prosecutorial and judicial system, which have promoted that they are prioritising corruption subjects, but that our findings testify that none of these cases have been handled either according to the terms and legal deadlines that are defined in law”, Musliu said.

Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj on International Anti-Corruption Day has said that Kosovo can pride itself on new laws empowering rule of law in the anti-corruption field.

He has stressed that the “aimed at implementing these laws in practice, at tomorrow's [name] meeting of the Government, will set for financial surplus in salaries for special prosecutors, with the aim of empowering the Special Prosecutor, as an important step towards fighting corruption”.

“From tomorrow they will also have payment extensions that will give them more confidence to discover and follow corruption works”, Haradinaj wrote on Facebook.

Such a decision, Musliu, considers illegal and one of the corrupt forms that he said “to buy Special Prosecutor”.