The process of vetoing in justice turns to zero

Establishing a new task force for the vetoing process in Kosovo's justice system is seen as political and buying out time for vetoing not to happen very soon, say resigned members of the group of independent experts.

Vetting is the process of reevaluating the figures of prosecutors and judges, and is aimed at boosting their professional, fighting corruption and impacting organised crime, politics or other illegal elements in bringing justice.

The group of independent experts, which was formed by the government led by Albin Kurti at the end of February of this year, resigned a week ago.

Part of this group was Adrena Loja, director of the Group for Jury and Political Studies (GLPS).

She tells Radio Free Europe that in the first week of July, the group has accepted an email from Justice Ministry Legal Office Director Adrian Bajraktari, through which it has informed them that Justice Minister Selim Selim Selimi has decided to establish a new working group.

Our goal as an expert group has never been to serve political parties, that is to serve political parties, but we have had a clear intention to provide our expertise and knowledge regarding this important area for the rule of law in Kosovo”, Loxha says.

According to her, the expert group could not be part of a larger group of people, as the government has requested.

“would have a negative effect if we were to continue being part of such a large group and where the key role seems to have deeds that should have been subject to the veto process and where the attitude of most of them is now public, against such a process”, Loxha says.

Even the remaining member, lawyer Kujtim Krsveshi, tells Radio Free Europe that members of the expert group have not been able to become part of a group of people who did not have a clean professional past.

“As a consequence of a correspondence, I would say that a draft of a new decision that the government then proposed, we realised that the government's strategy and methodology is completely different from what we were engaged in and there was no reason to continue engaging”, says Krvenshi.

Both Loxha and Krvenshi, the government's proposal for inclusion, see it as a tendency to stall reforms in the justice system and to prolong the vetoing process.

According to Krsesh, there are no conditions for political and institutional maturity for vetoing.

I have the conviction that there is no willingness to work sincerely on concrete steps to get to vetoing. This is evidenced even by the recent actions of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo. To my conviction, such changes by the government have only one goal, to achieve a time purchase and not to veto the steps that had started this year”, says Krvenshi.

New group proposal has been submitted to government
At the Ministry of Justice, they say the idea of expanding the group was coming after the meeting that Justice Minister Selim Selimi and Deputy Prime Minister Driton Selmanaj had had had had with the expert group.

In a written response to the ministry's Media Office, the government's idea has been to have an inclusion, including other acts of justice system in Kosovo, as well as representatives of foreign embassies.

After submitting the proposal for the comprehensive composition of the Commission and reference terms, which will propose the accountability system, including vetoing, and the possibility that previous composition of experts will be part of this group, they have decided not to send comments to”, it says in response.

This proposal for the composition of the new working group has already been submitted to the government and is expected to enter the agenda in the next meeting for approval by the government cabinet.

Why did the group of independent experts resign?
On July 8th, after having written down with Justice Minister Selimi's proposal that the group should join other people of justice institutions, the seven members of this group decided to resign.

The resignation they made known this through a letter sent to Justice Minister Selim Selim Selimi and Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti.

This group was formed on February 28th by the previous government led by Albin Kurti.

Members of this group were volunteering their help and were aiming to offer the reform scenario in vetoing or the process of verifying prosecutors and judges.

Part of this group were university professors and representatives of civil society organizations. /rel/