12 minutes agoJustice Ministry Proposes Changes to Pay Indictees in The Hague
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)The Justice Ministry has proposed changes to Administrative Guides, where judicial protection is envisioned for those accused at The Hague and family support. It sets out numbers the amounts the accused's lawyers can pay. While MD has not necessarily said they have set ceiling prices, lawyers in Kosovo say [...]
Over 14m euros is the amount that the Ministry of Justice between October 2020 and October of this year has awarded to Hashim Thaci's lawyers, Kadri Veselini, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi and other indictees.
The amount, according to the Ministry that heads Albulen Haxhiu, includes the expense of supporting the accused's family.
This figure that MD released within two years appears to have alarmed this dictatorship by which cases have been put into action to change administrative guidelines where the trial's legal protection at The Hague is envisioned.
With changes being intended to take place, there are now definite defence figures, not in advance.
The proposed guide defines them on the basis of the case and phase of procedures complex how much the amount should be, as well as according to lawyers' working hours.
MD has predicted that when the case is easy, the state budget for the precautionary phase of procedure will be set aside 20 thousand euros, 50,000 for the trial phase, 20,000 for the second degree and 20 thousand for the third grade.
Meanwhile, the higher are the amounts the ministry has seen when the complexity of cases is standard and difficult.
In this case, the maximum amount one accused of profiting is in the phase of the preliminary procedure, 95 thousand euros, 110 thousand for the trial phase, 80 thousand for the second degree and 80 thousand for the third grade.
As to why these changes have been seen necessary, is the ceiling price set for paying the defenders of the accused and what is the budgetary sum the government has allocated for 2023 in terms of these expenses, the Ministry of Justice has given no answer.
In short, they have said they have found the changes they have proposed reasonable.
The division within the Justice Ministry has been working on the administrative guidelines that you refer to for over two years. We have seen more than reasonable as a need of time and as a result of the practical work that we are constantly facing with defence lawyers as well as with their families to review these” guidelines, the Ministry of Justice said.
But, in Kosovo's 2023 budget, it figures out figures the Government has envisioned on the issue, amounting to 7m euros.
Despite this, a limit in the amount to protecting the accused is finding the lawyer Skender Musa wrong.
The defenders of former President Hashim Thaci, former Prime Ministers Jakup Krasniqi and Kadri Veselini, former delegation Rexhep Selimi, Salih Mustaf and Hysni Gucati lawyers, Nasim Haradinaj and Peter Shala have been paid from Kosovo's budget so far. / RTV Dukagini
