Baptism A few approved requests, lawyers say they're violating prison rights

Institutions responsible for this right are denying to many, this is based on a report by EULEX saying that in 2021 there have been over 700 parole requests, and only 29 percent of them have been approved. The fact that the most frequent complaints of prisoners are being rejected without reason is also noted in the EULEX report.

And this small number of approval by law connoisseurs is viewed as disrespect for human rights. They urge that any request of parole prisoners should be treated carefully and that when they have met the requirements of the law they should not be denied this right.

Lawyer Yll Zekaj said the parole institute is a very important institution for resocialisation of convicted persons, who, according to him, are regulated by law.

“The parole institution is a very important institution especially in resocialisation of convicted persons, because it is already regulated by legislation in effect, where in any case, for criminal acts punishable by over five years, convicts gain access to parole after the two-thirds of the sentence is held by”.

When for work condemned by works under five years over half the sentence, in any case when the conditions to be met were met, a parole request must be arranged for the prison system in Kosovo to handle each individual request of inmates in order to see if the same have been resocialised and the same meets the conditions to address their demands from the” panel, he said.

Zekij said any request of convicted persons should be looked into carefully by the panel for release in cases when they meet the conditions provided by law.

Any individual requests of the imprisoned persons should be viewed carefully on the side of the panel for parole, if the same have reached the goal of condemnation, and if the same can be turned into resocialised society. Even in the world's long-term countries, there is this institute, which has basically two goals, the first goal is public purpose, not to populate prisons with condemned persons, and save public money if the purpose of the” sentence has been achieved.

The second condition, which is a personal condition that allows convicts to submit such a request and to get out earlier. There is no denying such rights to imprisoned persons, and in any case more careful treatment of such requests”, he said.

Zekiaj said that of the monitoring that has been done to the prison system in Kosovo, there has been much criticism in the assessment of the resocialisation of imprisoned persons, according to him, if the parole system is not accessible to inmates then they are being violated their rights.

“Based on monitoring done to the prison system in Kosovo, there has been a lot of criticism in the assessment of the resocialisation of inmates, either from internal staff or from prison directors to offer the opportunity for their demands then to appear before the panel. This is a violation of the rights of persons imprisoned because all prisoners must have access to the request and recognise the resocialisation procedures in order to benefit from the institute. If this system is not accessible to prisoners then there is no interest in imprisoned persons to resocialise during this process of holding sentences”, he said.

Lawyer Arber Jashari said it is an extremely low number of people to whom parole is accepted.

According to him, there is a reluctance of the panel to approve the requirements, as they think a bad impression can be made in public opinion.

It is true that it is extremely low, I consider that the parole panel has some hesitation in adopting these requirements and often refuses them without any legitimate basis. I think it's because of a fear or no security of the people of the panel or members that if there's a parole, then I could create a bad impression on public opinion as if prisoners are being released or amnified. This is very damaging to justice because parole is a legal right and the moment prisoners meet the conditions that the laws have seen through the sentence they must carry and have brought good results, then the panel has no reason to refuse a bail request”, he said.

Jashar said very little is being implemented in the country, even early release, and the pardon of convicts who can make the country president, since the case according to him, prisoners are being violated the rights granted to the law, EO reports.

There are rare cases when a prisoner, even though he has met the conditions under the law, is released on parole. The same is almost as much about early release and forgiveness that is an institution that the Constitution has entrusted to the president, all three mechanisms that are in favour of prisoners are being implemented very little by institutions and prisoners are being violated by the rights the law has guaranteed to”, he said.