Ehat Miftaraj, executive director at the Kosovo Institute for Justice (IKD), said that the Ministers of Internal Affairs should not even be seen at the scene.
In "Tempus", Miftaraj said that the Kosovo Police and the Police Inspectorate have operational independence guaranteed by the Constitution and the law. He said that this means that if the law is implemented, politics should not have access to the operational aspect of how the KP works.
According to him, since the war, the independence of the Police has mainly depended on the general directors of the Police.
"It is an extremely bad sight for the eyes without the Minister of Internal Affairs or politicians going to the operating room. Based on the system that the Republic of Kosovo has, based on how the Kosovo Police works, the Ministers of Internal Affairs should not be seen at all even at the scene where criminal offenses are committed, but they should not be seen in operations either that are led by the Police of the Republic of Kosovo", Miftaraj said.
Miftaraj said that the good work done by this institution is not the success of politics, but the success of the Police, and only the director of the Police, or the responsible persons within it, should speak about this.
"The constitutional legal system in our country does not allow it, so politics would be much better as far away from the Police as possible. The policy can help the Police with a budget by offering them working conditions for the police, health insurance, life insurance, have summer tires in summer and winter tires in winter, have the right treatment when they go north so they don't they stay from a week to 10 days, live with inadequate food", he said. / Oath of Justice
Doruntina Bylykbashi, a journalist at TV Dukagjini, said that it has not been seen that there were any political influences in the Kosovo Police.
"As far as we have seen, especially with the last leadership that is the director of the Police, Gazmend Hoxha, it does not seem that his arrival in this position came specifically from politics. At least we can't say this because Mr. Hoxha had a very long past in the Kosovo Police institution with also very high managerial positions", said Bylykbashi in "Tempus".
According to her, there were some doubts about the change of workplace of some investigators, and what the director Gazmend Hoxha had reported about.
"It was a report by Mr. Hoxha to the Commission for Security and Defense, and there were some doubts that the place of the investigators who had dealt with the ministers who allegedly committed criminal offenses for which there are still no charges, had been changed. It was the main issue that has been raised for political influence during his leadership until now, but such a thing has not been proven yet, at least it has been denied by the Police Director himself, and we have not reported other cases so far," he said. said Bylykbashi.
The journalist said that the successes of the Police are being attributed to the Ministry of Internal Affairs
"The only thing that hinders me in the last leadership is when the Kosovo Police has great successes attributed to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for example it is the minister Xhelal Sveçla who appears in a press conference and shows that the Kosovo Police has carried out an action of successful. I think that in this case, the director of the Police, Gazmend Hoxha, should come out, because when there is something negative, we turn to him", said Bylykbashi. / Oath of Justice
Miftaraj: In over 95% of cases, the Special Prosecutor's Office conducts administrative and not criminal investigations
Ehat Miftaraj, executive director at the Kosovo Institute for Justice (IKD), invited to "Tempus", said that over 95% of cases the Special Prosecutor's Office conducts administrative and not criminal investigations.
"Regarding the fight against high-profile corruption, unfortunately, it turns out that the Special Prosecutor's Office, which is mandated to fight high-level corruption, does not conduct criminal investigations but conducts administrative investigations. What does this mean, it means that if the Kosovo Police sends a criminal report, the Anti-Corruption Agency sends a criminal report, the Prosecution almost does not use them at all or at all, over 95 percent of the cases do not use them at all or at all, for example, the measures of secret investigation or other surveillance measures that in some way the criminal offenses of corruption were discovered, because corruption is not a criminal offense that is committed only with papers, we know that it is a much more complex offense and usually when someone wants to cheat or by mounting a tender, there must be preliminary meetings", Miftaraj said.
Miftaraj said that it turns out that over 95%, the Special Prosecutor's Office files an indictment on the documents received during the investigation phase by the Police or other law enforcement agencies.
Miftaraj also said that this proves that when the prosecutors do not use the opportunities given to them by the Code of Criminal Procedure, it leads to the release of the accused.
"When the prosecutors do not use the opportunities given to them by the Code of Criminal Procedure or when they do not give the appropriate authorizations to the police, then of course we have cases that end almost 90 percent with acquittals or when we do not have seizure or confiscation of financial benefit gained through criminal acts of corruption", Miftaraj added.
According to him, prosecutors do not use the other opportunities given by the Code to hold the police accountable.
"We see that over 95% of the cases, over 90% of the cases, the suspects are interrogated by the police themselves," he said.
Miftaraj mentioned that in the case of Banjska, the policy accuses the Prosecutor's Office of not filing the indictment. He says that without the examinations of the evidence, the indictment cannot be filed.
On the other hand, the head of the Kosovo Police Inspectorate (IPK), Kushtrim Hodaj, said that prosecutors should more often request additional investigative actions from the Police.
"We usually do not send cases to the Prosecutor's Office, either criminal charges or special reports, without prior consultation, because we consider that the completion of investigations at the PIK should be the result of coordinating activities with the prosecution, and of course there are cases when we, in agreement with the prosecutors, file criminal charges and then they are dismissed. It does not mean that when they are rejected and we are right, the criminal report may not be well argued by us or the police investigators, but I consider that perhaps the prosecutions should more often request additional investigative actions", said Hodaj. / Oath of Justice
The leak of information from the Police, Hodaj: It is also harming the citizens
Kushtrim Hodaj, head of the Kosovo Police Inspectorate (IPK), speaking in "Tempus" about the leakage of information from the Police, said that they have a plan for inspection and that this phenomenon also harms the citizens.
"It is one of the problems that we, the Kosovo Police, are dealing with in the first place, but also us as a supervisory body. Leaking information in the first place can damage the investigative process of any investigation, it can also cause consequences not only for the integrity of the investigative process, but also for the people who are part of this process and the other reason is that this should not be allowed due to the protection of personal data and the legal obligations we have from the Law on the Protection of Personal Data. We are already planning an extraordinary inspection to verify the measures taken by the Police for the protection of citizens' data, the protection of the data of victims, especially those who are in the process", said Hodaj.
The head of the IPK also said that they have discussed with the Information and Privacy Agency to jointly conduct an inspection for the protection of personal data.
"We have also discussed with the Data Protection Agency to conduct an inspection to verify the measures taken by the police because they are problematic," Hodaj emphasized.
According to him, when there is a leak of information, covert measures must be implemented, examination of phones and that it is not easy to issue orders from the Prosecutor's Office in this direction.
"We have had cases where we found or resulted in successful investigations, but they are not satisfactory, they are not at a satisfactory level, considering the level of information that is distributed and we see throughout the day, this certainly damages the investigation, but also the citizens because personal data are sensitive and sacred and should not be made public", said Hodaj. / Oath of Justice
Miftaraj says that the leakage of information from the Police and the Prosecution violates the integrity of the investigation
Ehat Miftaraj, executive director at the Kosovo Institute for Justice (IKD), said that the flow of information to the media with details about traffic accidents cannot be done without the help of police officials inside. According to him, the leakage of this information, both by the Police and in other cases by the Prosecutor's Office, is also undermining the integrity of the investigation itself.
For this, Miftaraj in "Tempus" said that the Police Inspectorate of Kosovo and other mechanisms within the Police must take action.
"Another part where I believe the Police Inspectorate of Kosovo should be included as well as other Police mechanisms, within the framework of regular inspections that are carried out within the Police, has to do with the fact that it has started to turn into a phenomenon, I can say in the years the last one, where if an accident occurs in Dragash, in Prishtina, before 15 minutes, half an hour has passed, or before the family members receive the news or that the family member died in the accident, it means that the victim's first and last name appears, his photo, and this cannot be done without the help of the police officers inside", Miftaraj said.
According to him, it is information that should be treated with care, no one wants to see in the media what happened to their family members in an accident without receiving that information personally.
This means that it is then being misused by certain media. The same, according to Miftaraj, also applies to arrests in cases of corruption and organized crime.
"You have some privileged media, which we don't know how, but it means that we have had cases ourselves as IKD for a very high-profile case of corruption. It goes at 10:00 and gives the statement, it comes out at 1:00: 1, at 15:XNUMX the entire statement of the defendant is in the media. This is very disturbing", said Miftaraj.
The leak of this information, Miftaraj says, also violates the integrity of his own investigation.
"We are the media ourselves, we are a non-governmental organization and we have for transparency an information that we receive and it is in the interest of the public, we publish it. However, the Kosovo Police, in this case the Prosecutor's Office would have to keep this information because this then also violates the integrity of the investigation, the criminal prosecution. For the citizen, when he sees this phenomenon, he loses faith in the police as to how professional they are. I believe that this is not something organized within the Kosovo Police for certain individuals who misuse the information they receive during an investigation, during the questioning of someone or during the drafting of a report on a certain accident", said Miftaraj. . / Oath of Justice
Complaints against police officials are added, the suspension of 39 of them is recommended
Kushtrim Hodaj, head of the Kosovo Police Inspectorate (IPK), said that in the first half of this year there was a 30% increase in the number of complaints against police officers, compared to the previous year.
"The Police Inspectorate of Kosovo has been receiving a significant number of complaints in recent years. Based on statistical analysis, it turns out that in the first six months of this year, we have about 30% more complaints compared to last year. Last year we received about 1 complaints which we administered and investigated, a significant number of them also in criminal investigation. Whereas, this year there are somewhere around 700 complaints that were received only in the first half of the year", said Hodaj on the "Tempus" show on KTV.
According to him, citizens complain about different behaviors, from the way police officers communicate with citizens, traffic fines, misuse of official duties, domestic violence, mistreatment during the exercise of official duties, exceeding authorizations, use of excessive force. and unnecessary.
"These are more or less the typical violations faced by our Police, but perhaps all police because of the nature of their work and the authority given by the law to sometimes use violence and the use of force, but when this is exceeded it falls into disciplinary or criminal offense and we must deal with it", said Hodaj.
The head of the IPK said that they filed criminal charges against 80 police officers and that 39 of them were recommended to be suspended.
"If we take this year's figures, we have around 80 police officers for whom we have filed criminal charges or special reports in the competent prosecutor's offices, in the basic prosecutor's office or the Special Prosecutor's Office, depending on the nature of the cases. We have recommended the suspension of 39 police officers as a result of these criminal investigations that we have conducted. We have recommended the transfer from work duties for three police officers and we have arrested eight police officers and one citizen involved in these criminal acts for whom we have conducted criminal investigations in the first six months of this year", said Hodaj.
Previously, he said that they failed to document that there was a test leak in the sergeant promotion process.
"We have not achieved something like this with a document and... there was information that there is a test with several answers circulating on social networks, but during the process it is true that it was not the same test that was used in the competition. So it was not true that there was information or photography or a test that was shared on social networks. It was thought that there was a circle during the testing phase, but it is true since that day that the test has not been the same", said Hodaj. / Oath of Justice
The promotion process for sergeant, the journalist Bylykbashi says that there have been reports about the distribution of the test
Doruntina Bylykbashi, journalist at TV Dukagjini, said that the police officials reported to them that in the process of promotion to sergeant, there was distribution of the test.
"The competition in the Kosovo Police was opened in February and the first report we made on this issue was in April, somewhere towards the end of April. The test was scheduled to take place on May 10. In the report, we included the participation of the 54th generation in that test, which turned out to be contrary to the Administrative Instruction, just as the head chief mentioned, and then after the work they did, they also confirmed the reports we made" , Bylykbashi said in "Tempus".
According to her, after the testing, many police officials have turned to them as they have seen as discrimination the fact that a generation has entered into illegal testing.
"This was the first report we made, and apparently it didn't have that big of an impact to leave the 54th generation before the test, so that they don't enter the test, then so that this situation does not arise which has now come to is cancellation. After the test, there were many police officials who, in addition to addressing the Inspectorate, also addressed us as an address, since they saw that we dealt with that issue and they, let's say, saw as discrimination the fact that a generation has entered into illegal testing, knowing that precisely the police officials who were older, were discriminated against due to the fact that there has not been this type of competition for 11 years", she added.
Journalist Bylykbashi said that there were over 300 police officers of the 54th generation who could potentially take the place of the police officers who have been waiting for this competition for 11 years.
"Then this was the issue that we raised, having also reports that within the testing there was also distribution of the test to police officers of the 54th generation, which is not in the report of the Inspectorate, perhaps due to the lack of facts, but this was the report of the police officials that came to us. Then, it made a big fuss - the distribution of the test for them and we are now at the result of an extraordinary inspection of the Inspectorate", she said, adding that she is satisfied with the impact of their reporting. / Oath of Justice
What did the Kosovo Police Inspectorate find in the sergeant promotion process?
Kushtrim Hodaj, chief of the Police Inspectorate of Kosovo (IPK), said that after inspecting the promotion process, they found that the criteria for announcing the competition were not in harmony with the Administrative Instruction.
Invited to "Tempus", Hodaj explained that after receiving a significant number of complaints from some candidates who were part of the process and publications in the media about dilemmas about whether a certain category has the right to undergo the test , an extraordinary inspection was carried out to verify the flow of the process.
He said that they have also created a working group that has dealt with complaints about this process and the report has already been completed regarding the part of the inspection, where there are some findings.
"We have not reached this stage to prove criminal incriminations of certain officials, but some dilemmas that have been raised, we have established that they exist and this is exactly what has been the axis dilemma or the main theme of the right to apply for a certain generation of the Police who had not met one of the criteria of the Administrative Instruction that requires them to have five years of work experience in the Kosovo Police and two years of them in the rank of senior police, a generation did not reach this second criterion - passing of the rank of senior police officer and for this reason we have considered that the criteria for announcing the competition were not in harmony with the Administrative Instruction", said Hodaj.
Consequently, he says that some consequences have been produced during the development of the procedure, which is to allow access or not to use the electronic data management system, but to allow them to manually fill in certain data.
This is because according to Hodaj, the system filters candidates based on the criteria provided by the instruction.
"In this case, there has been a disconnection or a non-harmonization of the criteria as they are in the Administrative Instruction, and this was also the reason that some violations are evident and we have requested that this be fixed and the Police has already issued a decision following our recommendations to return the process to the zero point", added Hodaj.
The head of the PIK said that they believe that these criteria and the requirements of the regulation should be clarified, so that the next process has clear criteria. Also, he said that there should be monitoring with cameras and that the people who will monitor the process have the right knowledge of how this process should be developed.
