27 minutes agoUS again calls to Kurti Government: Applying the Decision to Decani Manual
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)The American Embassy in Pristina has again called on the Kosovo government, led by Albin Kurti, to implement the decision on the land of the Decani Monastery. In a response sent to Radio Free Europe, the American Embassy said that the Kosovo Constitutional Court's 2016 ruling concerns rule of law, [...]
In a response sent to Radios Free Europe, the American Embassy said the Kosovo Constitutional Court's 2016 decision concerns rule of law, “not ethnicity, politics or religion”.
“Government Kurti was elected on a platform focused on strengthening rule of law. Respecting the court's decisions is not a matter of choice, and certainly it is not a matter of negotiating, politics or reaching any” agreement, said the US Embassy's response.
In May 2016, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo decided that the right to ownership of the Decani Monastery is recognised for 24 hectares of land.
Despite the Constitutional decisions ʹ as the most judicial instigation in Kosovo ʹ are of firm and binding form for all parties, the law does not predestine “llusion” for disobedience to the court's decisions.
The Decani Monastery's decision to return property is refusing to implement local authorities in Decani, despite numerous calls by American and European diplomats that this decision should be respected.
The ongoing “Law enforcement weaknesses question Kosovo's pledge of equal justice, accountability, transparency and respect of property rights”, the embassy said.
Authorities in Decan refuse to allow the minister to register 24 hectares of land and forest in the cadastre, because they think this property belongs to social companies “Apico” and “Iliaria” and that it has never met the monastery.
They also estimate that the Constitutional Court has “lagised” the decision of former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (RFJ) Slobodan Milosevic, in 1997, when he decided to donate that property to the Decani Monastery.
Prime Minister Kurti and Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani are often summoned to these claims. Both have argued that the Constitutional Court's decision is based on “discrimination policy of the Government of Serbia from the 1990s.
On October 9th, Kurti reiterated the previous stance, but also demonstrated hope that the issue of the Decani Monastery “can be solved with dialogue”.
However, he has declared that the clerics of the Decani Monastery, at the helm of that monastery's abbey, Sava Janjiq, refuse to meet with him.
My “predecessors have met [with Sava Yanjiqi], but with me they don't want to meet. I asked for an appointment, but I was rejected. I believe that with dialogue we can solve the problems we have”, the prime minister of Kosovo has declared.
Meanwhile, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, in an interview for Radio Free Europe on 7 October, has declared that “should be very careful with the precedent set up with the Constitutional Court of Kosovo's decision in the case of the Decani Monastery”.
Remember that Milosevic has given and taken land in the years of CHA90 without any criteria, without any decision, this is entirely on discriminatory grounds. He even did that during 1998-99, when we were at war, when he committed genocide against the people of Kosovo. Hence, this is the fundamental problem of this” decision, Osman said.
