Despite the increase in the number of productive court sessions, the justice system continues to face delays, lengthy processes, low sentences, and retrials, these are data that have been repeatedly repeated in the reports of the EU Mission for the Rule of Law in Kosovo (EULEX), as the recommendations could not be fully implemented. Meanwhile, representatives of justice institutions say that legal changes in the justice system are necessary in order to implement the recommendations.

EULEX's Chief of Case Monitoring Unit, Hubert van Eck Koster, says that by the end of this year they will assess the implementation of all the recommendations issued by the three mission reports for the justice system.

He shows that during the monitoring they observed a trend of increasing productive hearing sessions. While adding that low penalties, lengthy processes are the points where they would like to see faster progress.

What makes the situation even worse, according to Koster, is the fact that there are still many retrials. According to him, greater focus should also be given to cases of corruption.

“The main findings of the monitoring report of the case monitoring unit of EULEX actually they are very wide because we cover a lot of topics, but if I have to do a selection of what is the most relevant is that we saw, and that's a good trend, an increased trend of productive hearings, and a productive hearing means that a hearing takes place and actually some procedural steps are being made, and they went up to 26 percent of unproductive hearings, out of 350 hearings that we monitored, and in previous reports, this was 30 and even 50% of unproductive hearings. So, there we see a positive step. However, at the same time we're still seeing a lot of trials are taking a long time. And with a long time, I really mean a long time, it can last for years unfortunately and what exacerbates that even further is that there's also many, many retrials still. So, that is still an area where we need to see some improvements, and of course, specific focus that we are looking at are corruption cases. And in corruption cases, unfortunately, we also still see a trend of trials that take a very long time, but also trials in which we see many acquittals or low sentences, or also as I just mentioned many, many retrials. So, I think in the field of corruption there are still a lot to be gained”, he says while adding that they expect to see more cases being completed.

The monitoring report of the justice system November 2021 - September 2022 of EULEX is considered credible by the chairman of the Judicial Council of Kosovo, Albert Zogaj.

He says that the report has identified issues that are the subject of the Judicial Council.

"We have received the EULEX report from the mission and consider it credible because it is supported by expert monitors who monitor court hearings and in general court proceedings in our courts... The report has identified issues, which are the subject of discussion in the KJC and in the courts, and in the context of this report, but also of previous reports, we must emphasize that the KJC approved the plan for access to justice last year, and the action plan for fighting corruption and organized crime. We have identified these two cases and we have actually accepted the recommendations of the international missions that monitor justice in Kosovo, such as the issue of how a judicial process should be administered, the issue of the failure of sessions, the issue of the access of lawyers to judicial processes, that in many cases the sessions fail due to their absence or in some cases the disrespect of the court, the measures that had to be taken by the courts, the failures we have because of the prosecutors in court cases, which is an important issue… And, in addition, we have also established the Strategy Monitoring Commission, which consists of five judges of the Supreme Court, who have a communication with each court and each judge. In this case, this report has also helped this commission, which is informed with the work done by the EULEX mission and the identifications it has made, and now they are being addressed to the courts", said Zogaj.

According to the report, Prosecutor's Offices and Courts should more systematically monitor the proceedings of high-profile cases, make known extremely long procedures and repeated retrials, identify the causes of these delays and correct them.

Regarding the implementation of the recommendations from the relevant justice institutions, the EULEX's Chief of Case Monitoring Unit says that there should be fewer excuses for their non-implementation.

“There are different types of recommendations, some are very technical and some depend on, for example, a change in legislation, so that doesn't happen overnight. So, for those recommendations, you need some time in order to wait until maybe the legal procedures of the legal amendments have been made, but some other recommendations can be implemented immediately. So those are the ones that we will be focusing also initially, for those there should be less excuses for them not to implement them, but we are working really as partners and it is not something that we just give a report and say ‘these are the recommendations’. No, now we really want to work together with institutions in order to help them implementing those recommendations… But overall, the cooperation is very well and I have to reiterate specifically the cooperation with the Judicial Council, because I think there is very much a willingness also to improve and also, to actually follow up on our recommendations, and we are really looking forward to the further cooperation to that end”, he said.

While the Ministry of Justice has taken some reforming steps, which, as they say from this department, are related to accountability and trust in the justice system, from EULEX declare that at the end of this year they will assess the implementation of all the recommendations issued by the three monitoring reports of the Mission.

“As you may know, we have already published three reports, public reports with all several recommendations, and of course we wanted to give also institutions some time to implement them. So, we did not immediately look at the implementation, but for the next round, by the end of this year, we are precisely going to do that, we're going to look into the implementation of all the recommendations from the previous three reports, so not only from the last one, but also from the two ones before. And one of the results is as I think, I hope, as I just mentioned, the productive and unproductive hearings, that is something that is very easy to solve and very concrete, and I really believe that this has been tackled by the Judicial Council already, because we see definitely a positive trend. But like I said, I think the handling of corruption cases is something there we still need to see some improvements”, he said.

In order to improve the justice system, the institutional leaders of this field signed on March 14, the Joint Declaration of Commitment to reform this system.

In addition, the Chief of Cabinet of the Minister of Justice, Genc Nimoni, says that the legal changes will be completed by the end of the year.

"The joint statement was signed between the Ministry of Justice, the Kosovo Judicial Council, the Prosecution Council, the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor and the Supreme Court. It was signed on March 14. This statement aims to have assessments and identification of the needs for changes by the month of June, which would lead to the control of the integrity of judges and prosecutors, proper evaluation of the proper performance of judges and prosecutors, then to the improvement of discipline and other necessary changes that contribute to all these objectives. And, after June, based on these assessments and recommendations, the adequate legal changes will begin, where by the end of this year, until December, we will complete these changes, which aim at a more accountable, more effective system, with concrete results, with integrity and professionalism, which in the end also affect the increase of citizens' trust in the justice system", he said.

It shows what changes are expected to be made.

"It is expected that we will have changes in the Law on the Judicial Council, the Law on the Courts, the Law on the Prosecution Council, then for the first time we will have a Law on the status of judges and prosecutors, we will have... a new law on the discipline of judges and prosecutors, we will have strengthening of the existing mechanisms for evaluation and performance, a regular vetting of all judges and prosecutors that takes place in regular periods and based on clear professional criteria", he said.

On the other hand, the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council has not answered regarding the challenges they are facing and whether they have implemented any of the recommendations of the latest EULEX report.

This feature was produced by the NGO “Center for Innovation and Development” with the financial support of EULEX Kosovo. Its content does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of EULEX Kosovo.