Lawyers: Special Prosecution still has deadlines for setting up indictment in Banjska case

Although it has been five months since the terrorist attack in Banjska, the Special Prosecutor has not yet filed charges against persons involved in the attack. And these delays have been described as normal by law affairs connoisseurs who for Online Economics demanded that this process be more transparent.

They estimate that the Special Prosecution is within legal terms, but that the previous time for such an indictment is two years old.

The lawyer, Albulen Ukimer, says justice institutions are within deadlines and that such cases under the criminal procedure have a two-year term of investigation, which could last another year with approval of the judge of the preliminary procedure.

I consider that the prosecution is within legal terms and the same is continuing to carry out their duties on the other side, perhaps I think there would be a little more transparency until the allowed limits that would not affect the collapse of investigations or the publication of information that is not allowed to the public and would not help the process. In this regard I consider that the Criminal Procedure Code has set the two-year investigation deadline for their completion and with the prosecutor's request in specific cases such as Banjsca's, which is more complicated to add for another year at the request of the pre-prosecutor or with his approval of”, Ukimer says.

It says citizens should have confidence in the institutions of justice, specifically in the Banjska case. Given the large number of people involved in this case, Wikimer sees the delays in the establishment of the indictment as natural.

I consider the case being handled properly on the part of institutions and we as citizens, the public should generally trust the institutions of justice here, I would also add to the fact that there may be no policy interference in this respect and let institutions do their tasks successfully. As far as transparency is concerned, it's in those limits that it's probably permitted to investigate the legislative organs to be in that direction. I definitely consider that the prosecution is within legal terms and that their work is being done in the right way. Since there are a large number of persons involved in a case can be passed on to other investigative tracks, it is the most complex case I consider that justice organs are the ones who may well know and are responsible for giving the final verdict”, Ukimer says.

Another lawyer, Ardian Bajraktari, has the same opinion, except it requires more transparency from the prosecution.

The introduction of these people into INTERPOL, for Bajraktari, is evidence of the hard work that law institutions have done.

The fact that already all persons involved in this process are among the INTERPOL's list of fugitives proves this that institutions are doing their job. Perhaps it would take a little more transparency in relation to the public, but first of all, I have to do the tasks and responsibilities within the set deadlines and parameters with the legislation in force. As for the prosecution's case, I generally appreciate that if it were more transparent with the public it would help a lot of this case and other cases, first of all, it would have to carry out its constitutional and legal duties and responsibilities to convince the Court that the persons who are involved in the case are currently being prosecuted and, of course, to receive the deserved” sentence.

Although the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo gives two-year terms in such cases, Bajraktari is optimistic that the indictment will be established before this time.

“Referenced to the provisions of the criminal procedure code below 157 respectively, the issue of deadlines is with very clear regulation. In this direction two years from the moment of its approval is the moment when there is a decision to start the investigation, but especially when the situation is complex in my conviction the Banjsca case is one of those cases, then at the request of the State Attorney, even with authorisation respectively, the decision of the pre-procedure procedure judge this deadline can be extended to an additional year so these are the parameters that define the penal procedure code. Based on the indicators that have already been distributed, I have the impression that even before this we may have an indictment of the fact that a large part of it is already well-known and I appreciate also for law enforcement institutions, but all we have to do is encourage law enforcement agencies to do their work with full dedication and to reserve even in demand towards doing the work for the fact that they are currently within the deadlines and parameters that are presented with legislation at the power of<1x> he indicated.