Kurti government silents over Decani Monastery following Quinn's statement

Mission chiefs of these states on Wednesday (May 19th) through a joint communique have said Kosovo's new “government was given a powerful mandate for reform and respect of rule of law”.

According to them, the key test of its determination will be to implement the Kosovo Constitutional Court's decision on registering the Decani Monastery's land.

We encourage it (the government) to proceed without delay with the process of registering the Decani Monastery property in line with the Constitutional Court's decision”, the statement said.

Radio Free Europe, has contacted Prime Minister Albin Kurti's cabinet to get an answer to this issue, but, until the publication of this text, has received no answers.

Also related questions, the REL has also sent to the Kosovo Ministry of Culture, but officials said they will answer in time.

The last time Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani é Sadriou and Prime Minister Albin Kurti have voiced the issue of the Decani Monastery, it is after the Europe Nostra organisation nominated the Decani Monastery on the “list. The seven most endangered monuments”.

In the letter dated March 18th, to the leaders of this organisation, Kurti and Osmani, say that the “Decani Manister is in good condition, with full constitutional and legal guarantees, with full security and no threat being brought to him, is one of the monuments that the state and the society of Kosovo boast about, and, as through history, we will continue to protect him with much love and devotion in the future of<x1.

All municipalities in Kosovo, including the Decani municipality, are drafting space and development plans. For your information, the Decani Community has pledged that within these plans, the particular area of the Decani Monastery will address it with particular priority and added seriousness. This approach implies strict respect for local legislation, and in particular the protection rules and management defined by the U. NESTO”, said in Kurt and Osman's letter.

However, the European Organisation Nostra released the list of “early in April The seven most endangered monuments”, including the Decani Monastery.

Five years ago, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo has made the decision under which the ownership right is recognised to the Decani Monastery over 24 hectares of land.

But this decision has never been implemented by Kosovo institutions, namely the Decani municipality, despite calls for such a thing from the international community.

The mayor of the Decani municipality, Bashkim Ramosaj, told Radio Europe and Lire on Thursday that he would not implement the Kosovo Constitutional Court's ruling and subsequently stated that municipal authorities have not changed their position to reject the registration of property for the Decani Monastery.

It is a Constitutional Court decision that has excluded Decani citizens from realising their interest. In reality, that decision has made economic development impossible for us so far. It's an offer to tell the citizens of Decani that you have no right to live in this country. It is not just a Constitutional Court ruling now. There is a host of conflicts that should have been permanently closed”, Ramos said.

He stressed that the Constitutional decision is a blow to the economic development of the Decani municipality.

If the Constitutional Court decision is implemented, the Government of Kosovo must take over the implementation of many demands of the Decani municipality”, he said.

Even the head of the League of Historians of Kosovo “Ali Hadri” branch at Decani has rejected the repeat request of Quint countries to implement the Constitutional Court's decision.

The head of the association, Shkodran Imeraj, said that anti-unconstitutional and anti-legalally they are trying to make the Decani Monastery land free.

On the fifth anniversary of the Constitutional Court's decision, the Decani Monastery through a statement has said they are facing legal instructions from both levels of Kosovo, local and central institutions.

The “under the powerful influence of the formal and informal centres of Kosovo Albanians, who seem to be determined that the Constitutional Court's decision will never be implemented. We are saddened that local judicial bodies are unable to do anything about it and that institutions are in the hands of those who establish separate justice, regardless of the law and the Constitutional Court's decision. International representatives have simply not found a way to convince Kosovo institutions to implement the Constitutional Court's decision”, the Decani Monastery's response reported.

The United States' ambassador to Kosovo, Philip Costet, in January of this year has said disobedience to rule of law by several different Kosovo governments questions Kosovo's commitment to equal justice.

It has highlighted the importance of political leaders respecting institutions and judicial decisions “even if they do not care about those decisions”.

“We continue to witness the cases in which Kosovo institutions have failed to act within the law and implement judicial decisions”, Costet wrote in a script published on the American Embassy page.

“Shembul this is the case of ownership of the Decani Monastery. In 2016, after many years of judicial proceedings, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo confirmed ownership of the Serbian Orthodox Church over several hectares of land. However, with the silent support of top officials and party leaders along several governments led by various political parties for nearly five years, central and local-level cadastral officials failed to implement the decision to legal registration of church land”, Konett wrote.

In 2008, Kosovo's Assembly adopted the Special Protection Areas Law, which should ensure the protection of Serb Orthodox monasteries, churches, other religious sites, as well as historical and cultural sites of special importance to the Serb community, as well as to other communities in the Republic of Kosovo

Decani Monastery is one of the protected areas under this law.

Under the law, various activities, such as construction or industrial developments, such as exploration and use of mineral resources and the construction of dams, power plants or power lines, furnaces and factories and transital roads in rural areas; and construction or developments leading to deforestation or pollution of the environment.