January 25, 2012
490 Lexime
The OSCE Ambassador in Kosovo Werner Almhofer said that the OSCE report pointed a number of shortcomings with regards to the Kosovo judiciary; yet, according to him, the report also found improvements in the overall safety at courts.
Pristina, KOSOVO – by Vedat Xhymshiti
| Wednesday, January 25, 2012 | The IndependenT NewseeeK |
“The Kosovo judiciary continues having problems that affect the justice approach. There are also threats against judges that were mentioned in the 2010 report. The report also points interferences from the executive branch, and social pressure in sensitive cases and unlimited access in the communication amongst experts, judges, and prosecutors. In the positive aspect, the report points that there have been improvements,” Ambassador Almhofer said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Hajredin Kuçi found the report realistic, saying that it clearly depicts institutional independence.
“The Kosovo government is trying to invest as much as possible in supporting the Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC), in order to build capacities of our judges both in quantity and quality of their work. We have many plans to support KJC and to give the opportunity for capacity building. In addition, our idea is to establish Justice Academy through which we will directly invest in the continuous education of judges and prosecutors, in order to continuously work in the quality and professionalism of our judges,” said Kuçi.
The KJC president Enver Peci appreciated the report. He said that the report will allow the Kosovo judiciary to in the future improve its work which needs to be done.
“This document is very comprehensive, and at the same time it also highlights the future improvements that should happen in the judiciary system, in order to have a more functional and reliable judiciary which responds to the citizens’ needs. The report looks both at the positive aspects and concerns that I can claim as true,” Mr. Peci said.
The OSCE report contains a number of recommendations for the Kosovo judiciary system.
