Decani Community Under Investigation of Monastery Property

The launch of investigations into this case has confirmed for Radio Free Europe Chief Prosecutor of the Property Foundation Agim Kurmeha.

We've started the investigation. The procedure is on us, that's all I can say right now. Several actions are being taken in this direction”, Kurmeheim said briefly.

The launch of the investigation comes nearly nine months after the Constitutional Court of Kosovo has sent a letter to then-chief state prosecutor Aleksander Lumezi, in which it is said that “belongs to the State Prosecutor to take action” for failing to comply with its legal competencies.

The Constitutional Court's decision on the Decani Monastery, located about 100km west of Pristina HINA, is not currently implemented by Decani's municipal organs for six years. According to them, those 24 hectares of land belong to two social companies “Apico” and “iliria”, located in this municipality.

In various statements, central and local government officials -- including the mayor of the Decani municipality, the Ramosaj Union -- have said that, with the decision of 2016, the Constitutional Court has legalised a 1997 decision by former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, through whom, “tokë has been pardoned the Monastery”.

After confirmation of the launch of investigations by the Peja Prosecutor, Radio Free Europe has tried several times to speak to Ramos, but he has repeatedly said he is busy with meetings.

What can the investigation bring?

The executive director of the Kosovo Institute for Justice (IKD), Ehat Miftaraj, says the launch of such investigations by the State Prosecutor is a practice that has not occurred before.

He doubts whether this institution has legal grounds to conduct these investigations.

“While the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo and the Criminal Procedure Code clearly define that the State Prosecutor's institution has the right to initiate or initiate investigations in cases when no judicial decisions of regular courts are carried out, such sanctions in the Kosovo Criminal Code do not exist as far as the failure of the Constitutional Court” is concerned, Miftaraj tells Radio Free Europe.

In an earlier statement to the REL, one of the founders of the Kosovo Constitution, Arsim Bajrami, simultaneously professor of constitutional law, has said that there is no concrete sanctions in the law or constitution or whatever the subject refuses to implement the Constitutional Court's decisions.

Former Kosovo Constitutional Court member Kadri Kryeziu has declared, as well, earlier REL that the Constitutional Court's decision “is a complete matter” and that Kosovo institutions must implement it.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has said at a news conference on June 1st that the Government is not responsible for implementing this decision and has rejected its contents.

Countless “violations on the part of the Constitutional Court are numerous, Kurti has said, to add that he has repeatedly insisted on starting dialogue with the main priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo.

But, in a response to the social network Facebook, on May 30th, representative of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo, Igumeni Sava Janjiq, has said that this dishonest relationship best testifies to the unwillingness of Kosovo institutions to respect its legal norms and elementary religious freedom of the Serbian Orthodox Church”.

Pressure on Kosovo

Since the Constitutional Court of Kosovo has ruled in favour of the Decani Monastery, the international community has repeatedly called for its implementation, demanding that the monastery be allowed to register 24 hectares of land and forests in the cadastra.

On May 20th, the day six years since the verdict was issued, the states of the QUINT U.S.A., Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom have submitted similar calls to the Kosovo Government.

The implementation of the law and respect for judicial independence are the obligations of all democraticly elected governments. Also, they are preconditions for Kosovo's democratic consolidation and its integration into European and Euro-Atlantic institutions”, it has said. QUINT through a statement.

In April, the European Parliament has said that failing to implement the Constitutional Court's decision “damages the Government of Kosovo's commitment to strengthen rule of law and respect for the independence of the judiciary”.

The US State Department, in its report on religious freedoms published on June 2nd, has also mentioned the property issue about the Decani Monastery, saying that the failure to implement the court's decision “has led to the break of communication between the Monastery and Government”.

Failure to comply, obstructing integration path?

In recent days, there has also been speculation that Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe could be conditioned with the implementation of the Constitutional Court's decision on the Decani Monastery.

“If, for example, the General Assembly of the Council of Europe gives recommendations, if the Kosovo case should be approved, then I am sure that it will also be written to implement decisions”, German Ambassador to Pristina Jorn Rohde said in an interview for television “Klan Kosova”, on May 27th.

Prime Minister Kurti has told reporters on June 1st that Kosovo -- so far -- has no information on such a condition.

International Law Professor at Pristina University Africa Hoti tells Radio Free Europe that he does not believe this issue could be drawn up as a condition for Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe. But, he says, in the event of membership, implementation of the decision is inevitable.

“Even if this issue is not a condition, membership in the Council of Europe implies the fact that we will become part of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms and, therefore, gain the opportunity to sue and be indicted before the European Court for the protection of these constitutional rights, says Hoti.

He adds that Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe would enable the Serbian Orthodox Church to sue Kosovo institutions for failing to implement the Constitutional decision.

Kosovo has applied for membership in the Council of Europe 12 May.

The Council of Europe, headquartered in Strasbourg, France, is an organisation that focuses on human rights, democracy and rule of law.