The Council for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms is seeking to start the process of lustration for high public figures and the opening of files, proposing that this process should be administered by an Independent Commission, says the statement from KMDLNJ.
KMDLNj, according to kp - said that this process cannot be used for individual, political, ethnic, religious, racial, gender, etc. punishments, punishments or revenge, but that the goal is for the Lustration process of public figures to eliminate or reduce the threats that may come from Lustration subjects who in the new circumstances may violate human rights or block democratic processes and who are in high public positions.
"For the serious crimes they committed in the previous systems, they should be subject to a Criminal Code".
This is the full communique of KMDLNJ - of:
The Republic of Kosovo, 19 years after the end of the war, has not managed to create a standard of good governance due to the lack of the Lustraication Law as an opportunity and necessity to, through an effective process of opening files, clean up public figures from the past and who are now in high public positions. For this reason, the relationship of trust of these public figures has never been created, as if the society has not been able to know who they are governed by, who represents them and who protects their rights. The war in Kosovo was preceded by a massive and long violation of human rights in Kosovo (from 1945 - 1998) which is considered a period of crimes of communism and which ended with an open genocide during the years 1998 - 1999. Albanians and the non-Albanians who have opposed communism in the former Yugoslavia and Serbia have been subjected to unprecedented crimes and to this day have not had the opportunity, through providing access to past files, to be informed about their "invisible" persecutors that today they can also be holders of public posts in Kosovo, which means a real risk that their persecution may be repeated, now in other forms. The process of lustration, in which case the verification of the past is a necessary condition for gaining the trust of the public opinion for the figures who are subject to this process, the extraction of the truth and the historical right, as well as the strengthening of transparency as a prerequisite for the creation of a democracy stable in a very repressive environment like Kosovo was in the period that is expected to undergo the process of lustration of public figures through the opening of files is extremely necessary now that it was early if it had started immediately after the end of the war.
This process, if it will be done, respecting the Law on Lustration and Opening of Files, will make transparent the crimes from the past system and their consequences, as if it will ensure that those who govern today or are holders of high public positions deserve it the trust of the public opinion in case the lustration process cleans their image. This applies to the state administration in general, highlighting some special segments in the executive, judicial and high public office bearers. For this process to be reliable and acceptable to the public opinion, the Law on Lustration and Opening of Files must be in full compliance with the principles of the rule of law, respecting international human rights and democratic standards. In Kosovo, there have been initiatives for the Lustration process, but they have been isolated and have failed due to the fact that they were built on fragile and unacceptable foundations because they had the connotation of a denunciation approach, without arguments or with dubious arguments, without consultation of files, have taken on the meaning of a public lynching or have been used for exclusively political differentiations, creating a climate that has not influenced or helped transparency as a prerequisite for creating the trust of public opinion. These are the reasons why the process of Lustration and Opening of Files in Kosovo has failed. This initiative has not treated the Lustration process as a phenomenon but as a hunt for proper names. In these circumstances, it has been impossible to ensure the conditions for the consensual approval of a Law on Lustration of public figures in Kosovo.
Relying on the experiences of the states of the region that have gone through this process, from the adoption of the Law on Lustration to the implementation of this Law and making efforts that this process, which has its own specifics regarding Kosovo and which differs from other countries, it should be clarified to the opinion in Kosovo that the lustration process:
- It cannot be used for punishment, punishment or individual, political, ethnic, religious, racial, gender, etc. revenge. But that the goal is that the Lustration process of public figures eliminates or reduces the threats that may come from Lustration subjects and that in the new circumstances may violate human rights or block democratic processes and that are in positions public high. For the serious crimes they committed in the previous systems, they should be subject to a Penal Code.
- The responsibility for the functionaries of the previous systems is based on the criteria of individual responsibility and never collective;
- The process of Lustration of public figures must result in the prohibition of the exercise of certain functions and be limited on a reasonable time basis, and this process can only be applied if the subject of Lustration is provided with full legal protection;
- The Lustration process should be limited only to those cases where there are credible reasons that they pose a risk to human rights, democratic processes, hinder the implementation of government policies in accordance with democratic standards and that are related to internal security or the functioning of the the state.
- Institutions that can affect human rights in a wasteful way are: intelligence services, security, law enforcement, judiciary, prosecution, etc.
- A person under the age of 18 cannot be subjected to the Lustration process in the period when he is suspected of being part of repressive structures and in case the individual has voluntarily opposed the violation of human rights.
Dear Minister Hoxha,
For the Lustration process to be reliable and acceptable to the public opinion and the subjects subject to this process, and taking into account the positive practices of other countries, KMDLNj reiterates that this process must be administered by an Independent Commission created especially for this purpose. The composition of this Commission must be from respected individuals of society, with proven moral and professional integrity, impartial and outside of any political influence.
If these criteria are not respected, the Lustration process of high public figures in Kosovo and who may be subjects of this process, the success of this process will be very doubtful and why not say it will be a failure. The Lustration process of public figures, if implemented based on the aforementioned criteria, will affect the removal of doubts that exist today, are moral retribution for crime victims, affect the restoration of trust in institutions, strengthen the trust of public opinion, and serves the realization of the right to justice, confirms the historical and factual truth, helps in the decriminalization of the administration and other important institutions of Kosovo as well as serves as a preventive measure for possible crimes in the future. In addition to being a state obligation, the Lustration of Public Figures process is also a mandatory standard of states that emerged or were formed after the fall of communist dictatorships, the fulfillment of which is required by important international institutions.
Of course, this initiative for the approval of the Law on Lustration of high public figures through the opening of files should come from civil society, while KMDLNj, with this request they made, is only contributing to making the first step in concluding a very long process. sensitive, painful, with many risks but necessary for Kosovo and its citizens so that then the state institutions deal with this issue.
that this initiative of KMDLNj - for the Lustration process of high public figures and Opening of Files be supported by civil society, the deputies of the Assembly of Kosovo, the Government of Kosovo, the Presidency and other relevant institutions.
