Urgent announcement of competition required for new State Chief Prosecutor

The IKD estimates that the country now operates four years without a chief prosecutor elected on a regular mandate.

IKD senior researcher Gzim Shala, in an interview for Online Economy, says that although reform in the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council under the new composition has been alive and there is enough quorum for functioning, the process for electing the chief prosecutor has not been conducted since October 2023, when the president of the Republic of Kosovo has returned the decision to the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council.

The “is now becoming four years since Kosovo is without a chief state prosecutor. And we are currently in the phase when reforms in the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council under the new composition have been experienced and only one member is needed to be elected by the Parliament of the Republic of Kosovo. However, there is enough corum to function. Since the time, since October 2023, when the president of the Republic of Kosovo has returned the decision to the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, Kosovo's Prosecutorial Council, in the total absence of responsibility, has not again held the contest, has not again announced a new competition for chief state prosecutor, in order to select a chief prosecutor that emerges from a regular, meritor and transparent process, as had not happened in the first” process, he said.

Shala stressed that during the entire period there has been total responsibility on the part of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, failing to hold the new process of electing the chief prosecutor.

And now it means throughout this entire period there has been a total responsibility on the part of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, failing to develop the new process for the chief state prosecutor. For this reason, as the effect of the new reform life of Kosovo's Prosecutorial Council, the Kosovo Institute for Justice has recommended to the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council that, among its first actions, it should be to declare a new competition for the chief state prosecutor, and to develop a transparent, equal and meritive process for this position, so that the new name of the chief state prosecutor does not emerge from a process of contested constitutionalx1>, he said.

Speaking of the powers of the task leader, Shala decalated that he formally has all the powers of the chief prosecutor, but cannot develop a long-term vision of the institution.

Now if we look at it from the competencies it has, even the task maker of the chief state prosecutor formally has all the competencies that the state chief prosecutor has. However, the vision, how the state prosecutor views the institution, cannot develop a task leader. This should be developed by a person who maintains the regular position of chief state prosecutor, who has a certain mandate, and for which mandate he has his vision of how he will develop it and how he sees the state prosecutor within his mandate”, he said.

According to him, the choice of chief prosecutor with full mandate is necessary, but above all, the process should guarantee integrity.

For this reason, we definitely can't say in this sense that we are enough if we have a task leader and we don't have the elected head prosecutor. Despite that, however, more important than anything else is that the new name of the chief state prosecutor is derived from a process that does not have the uncontested integrity, but guarantees meritocracy, transparency and equal treatment of all candidates”, he said.

We recall that Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, in October 2023, did not decree Blerim Isufajn for the post of chief state prosecutor because, as he said, some legal violations, while the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council had declared that the president's reasonings were unfounded and biased.

Currently, the task of chief state prosecutor is Agron Qalaj. /Periscope