Peace over Kosovo-Denmark agreement for prisoners

In May of last year it was approved in the Kosovo Assembly, the agreement with Denmark on the transfer of 300 prisoners to the Correcting Centre in Gjilan. Human rights organisations and monitoring of corrective institutions express concern for lack of transparency during this period. They say it is still not known where the 200 detainees currently located will be transferred.

In the latest report on Amnesty International's human rights situation, a chapter is dedicated to Kosovo.

The report also cites Kosovo's agreement with Denmark to transfer Danish prisoners to Kosovo to 300 cells, stressing limited public consultations and insufficient prison space.

Fatmire Haliti, who is a lawyer at the Kosovar Centre for the rehabilitation of Torture Survivors, says there has never been any public discussion about this agreement.

It stresses that there is no known state in which correctional centres the detainees will be transferred to Gjilan.

We've made several demands, some calls to the Ministry of Justice to discuss where those people will be placed and there hasn't been any response or any public proposal on where the 200 prisoners in Gjilan will be sent. Because the number of 200 detainees to be transferred to another similar detention centre under the current circumstances in which the correctional system is found in Kosovo does not have enough seats.

We've repeated several times and over again, there are free places in the correctional institutions, but on the basis of human rights legislation and standards, these free countries found in correctional centres are for other categories, are for persons sentenced to court rulings, are for women convicted in enough spaces, and there are also some free places in the correctional centre for minors, as well as in high security prison. There are institutions which are not adequate for the transfer of 200 prisoners from the detention centre to Gjilan. And this has been one of the concerns that we've addressed, but so far we haven't had any answers or any communication about how it's being thought”, she says.

The agreement with Denmark has been ratified in the Kosovo Assembly in May last year. But during that time there has been a lack of transparency, Haliti says of the kp.

The “in the legal aspect is applicable as an agreement, but in the practical way there is no information about where they are with the procedures for implementing this agreement. On the basis of several statements by officials from the correct institutions, it is seen that there is a mutual co-operation between Kosovo and Denmark -- that is, relevant officials -- have mutual visits of states between themselves. However, in practical terms there is still no concrete because the agreement envisions only 15m euros annually for Kosovo for the implementation of this agreement, with agreement it is envisioned that many early 5 million will be transferred immediately after the ratification of the agreement, where the renovation of the correctional centre in Gjilan for the needs of the Danish system for the transfer of prisoners there. But now it has been a year and officially and publicly we have no information about how the process is going in implementing this agreement. This too is a deadlock in communication with the public and interest parties because apart from prisoners we don't know about their fate where they will be transferred, we also have a number of staff engaged”, she stressed.

In this regard, Kosova Preress has expected an answer from the Kosovo Correcting Service, but until the publication of this article, no such thing has happened.

Council for Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms Chairman Behgjet Shala says about Kosova Prees that from the start they have rejected this agreement.

“They [the Danish prisoners] are convicted of serious criminal acts, which the acting minister has hidden from opinion, nowhere has he indicated what the profile of those who will be brought in, no prisoner is worth coming here, because if they were good prisoners Denmark would not bring and Denmark has failed to recompar and for a little brings them to Kosovo. It's not serious, funny to say Denmark has no capacity to accept prisoners, where Denmark can build a prison for six months and here it's waiting five years until the prison is able to serve in Pasjak,”, he adds.

Shala also raises family concern in case the transfer of local prisoners is to be taken away from Gjilan.

The family must visit prisoners who may have been about six miles [10 km] or 20, now must pass 100 miles [100 km] to visit. The social environment or social health of inmates and keeping regular contact with family” are under threat, Shala says.

The agreement with Denmark was first signed in 2022 for the rent of prison in Gjilan. /Periscope/