E - control of rapists increases security for victims

Although Kosovo has the Law for Electronic Monitoring of alleged or accused persons of criminal acts, it has not prevented the latter from approaching victims even when they have had court protection orders.

On November 30th, a 35-year-old pregnant woman has been killed in the courtyard of the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo in Pristina. The crime, allegedly committed by her husband, has occurred despite the fact that the victim had police protection orders.

Similar cases when suspected or convicted female killers had files on police officers occurred in Kosovo even earlier.

Experts believe that many of them could be avoided if security institutions were to implement the E - monitoring Law, which was in effect in 2015.

But responsible institutions such as the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Kosovo Police, the Prosecutors, the Courts and the Correcting Service “have failed” in its implementation, a report of the Parliamentary Commission for the Kosovo Parliament's Parliament's Parliamentary Parliament for Legislation has been filed in July 2022.

The report has noted that none of these institutions have applied to the Ministry of Finance, nor has it shared tools to buy bracelets and other equipment necessary for law enforcement.

The Kosovo government has warned that by the end of 2023 it will start applying electronic surveillance of suspects or indictees for criminal acts.

What's electronic monitoring?

With the Law for Electronic Monitoring in Kosovo, the court decides for electronic oversight of someone at the request of the prosecutor, the person, his protector, his parents, or custody of the minor person.

To implement electronic monitoring requires some equipment and software, including the bracelet that is placed on the person's hand or foot and with which his distance movements are monitored. The monitoring is also followed by equipment signaling police and in some cases the victim is entering the area that the court has banned.

There are some forms of electronic monitoring, including satellite - wave tracking.

According to the European Committee for Crime Problems, electronic monitoring as a term refers to monitoring the location, movement and specific behavior of certain persons.

The law was voted in, but S' bought the equipment

Albana Hasani, by Movement FOLU, author of the report “Byzylytics: the focus on preventing domestic violence cases”, says that in addition to the argument that electronic monitoring equipment is expensive, there has also been institutional neglect that has led to failure to implement the Law for Electronic Monitoring.

Because of the cost of these devices, institutions have taken no concrete steps to create conditions for law enforcement. The cost of equipment seems to be too high, and especially maintenance”, Hasani tells Radio Free Europe.

According to its findings, the cost in Albania for a monitoring unit in 2017 has amounted to 9,000 euros.

However, Hasani says, practices from countries applying electronic monitoring show they have significant effect on reducing domestic violence cases.

She cites Sweden's case with one of the first states in the EU that has begun to transmit the movement of suspects electronically.

Hasan says this approach has proved effective in reducing the number of victims in general and in cases of effective prison sentences.

She expresses the conviction that monitoring the suspects could even prevent any case of the murder of women in Kosovo.

The victim may have some kind of guarantee, since, in this way, the bully finds it difficult to approach it”, Hasani says.

Ramadan Makshana, legal researcher at the Kosovo Institute for Justice (IKD), also says electronic monitoring of persons suspected of criminal acts would help prevent cases of domestic violence.

Not all cases can be prevented, but in some way, it would help institutions responsible for electronic monitoring of persons who, with a judicial decision, were issued this order to be under surveillance”, Makshana tells Radio Free Europe.

Threem euros for monitoring start

Following the case of the pregnant woman's murder in the KKUK court, the Kosovo government said it will make efforts to, by the end of next year, functionally monitor the electronic system of persons suspected of criminal acts.

She warned that she would allocate threem euros to buy the bracelets and other necessary equipment.

Nazlie Bala, adviser to the Ministry of Justice, says electronic monitoring has not been implemented so far, because past governments, according to her, have done no action towards expanding infrastructure, buying equipment and training staff for that purpose.

“Fare has not been worked on in this direction by past governments. It is very important that we already have a pledge on the part of the Government for the sharing of the budget for electronic supervision, which has lacked Kosovo when the law has even entered into force, Bala says.

She adds that the government aims to apply the latest technology to electronic monitoring.

“We believe that human capacities only exist in the Kosovo Police, but the share of advance or training in terms of electronic surveillance, monitoring equipment, which should be placed in nearly all police stations, and also the bracelets placed on the suspect's hand or foot of”, Bala says.

Fifty Women Killed in 12 Years

By 2015, when the Law for Electronic Monitoring went into effect, 32 women were killed in Kosovo.

Suspects or convicted of murder were mainly their husbands.

According to Kosovo Police data, cases of domestic violence are on the rise.

Of the 2,069 cases reported in 2020, their number has reached 2,273 in the first ten months of this year.

In 2022 alone, three women were killed for all three cases - guilty or suspected of being their husbands.