an hour agoConfirming Cateazi: Authorities have withdrawn from investigations into Insider
Periskopi(5 years ago)
(5 years ago)The editor-in-chief of the online newspaper Insander, Vehbi Cajtazi, has stated that Kosovo authorities have withdrawn from the investigation into this medium, concerning a text of this medium, according to which Kosovo Health Minister Arben Vitita has refused signing a contract with the American company Pfizer, for securing the anti-company vaccine. According to this [...]
According to this scripture, released on Friday, April 16th, “furnisation with 500,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines is expected to be postponed by September”.
The procedure was withdrawn since the newspaper's director, Parim Oluri, along with the lawyer, went to the station and asked for an investigation decision, which they haven't given him, and were told that we don't have any business with you. The police have submitted the copy of the law on protection of resources, and that's it.”, Cateazi said.
On the other hand, neither police nor prosecutors have announced whether they have completed the investigation into the case.
The State Prosecutor has announced Saturday that he authorized the Kosovo Police to take all necessary investigative actions, in accordance with the Republic of Kosovo Criminal Procedure Code, to initiate cases in the direction of criminal work “The discovery of official secrecy”, to the online newspaper Insander.org.
On Friday, the newspaper Insander published a writing about the process of providing vaccines against corruption in Kosovo, as well as correspondence between the Minister of Health and other officials, with representatives of Pfizer Company.
The published text says that Kosovo Health Minister Arben Vitita has refused to sign a contract with Pfizer, and that the supply of vaccines from this company has been delayed as a result.
The minister of health, Arben Vitita, has exposed this himself, saying that the “news published in the newspaper is false, harmful and malicious”.
“Vaxis are a matter of national importance and security, because it's about the public health of citizens. And risking the insurance of vaccines endangered the health of citizens, and therefore the state has to seek accountability”, Vitita said at a press conference Friday evening.
At the same time, Vitita has called on the prosecution to act on those who undermine a process, which she has considered vital to citizens.
The prosecution itself in a statement Saturday has said that “State Prosecutor will act in any case in which public interest and citizens' health are violated, in its legal authorisations”.
But, according to the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Insinger, Wehbi Kaitazi, who is also the author of published writing, what is published in the newspaper is accurate and “has nothing to do with any sensitive and confidential documents of the state”.
“In documents writes they are confidential, so communication between the Kosovo authorities and the American company. But for us as a journalist is not worth it, because we have the right to publish any document that is in public interest. They are business secrets of companies, not state secrets”, Kaitazi told Radio Free Europe on Saturday.
He has called statements by Kosovo Government officials unacceptable and dangerous regarding his and media work in Kosovo.
Among other things, Cajtazi has confirmed that investigations into their offices started on Saturday, April 17th, and, as he says, investigators have sought to find out the source of information.
He said in no case the data on where documents and information were provided.
I've provided these documents through my sources. Of course, when people see jobs being neglected, the lives of citizens are threatened, they react, and the only way is to improve the quality and life of citizens. Let's not forget that there is a beacon law, which also protects officials who release such information”, he has declared.
The Constitutional Prosecutor in Pristina reacted to the issue Saturday, saying investigative actions will be taken against official persons, not the media and journalists, as reported.
On the other hand, the Kusari butterfly, a media rights lawyer, has estimated that interviewing Insideder journalists, with the aim of discovering their source, is a flagrant violation of the Law on Protection of Journalists' Resources and the right to media freedom.
According to her, the prosecution and police have no right to seek the source of journalists without the court's order.
Even the Kosovo Journalists' Association has said it is “totally unacceptable to interview Parim Olur, Director of the Insander Journal with the aim of uncovering their source, as this is essentially flagrant violation of the Law on Protection of Journalists' Resources and the right to freedom of media”.
The AGK has called on competent bodies to initiate disciplinary procedures against police and prosecutors, who, according to the Association, have misused their authorisations, and has called on all relevant acts to stop pressure and prevent the practice of profession to journalists.
