Gruda for the Bureau: The fore and the tiredness of LVV
Candidate for MP from the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Përparim Gruda, has said that the Bureau for the Confiscation of Unjustified Assets is the "tired front" of the Vetëvendosje Movement.
In the Debate on Justice on the show "Elections in Time" on KTV, Gruda stated that since the end of the February elections when the institutions were constituted and until now in the dissolution of the Parliament, this Bureau could have been created, but according to him, the LVV did not want to do it.
Gruda stated that in principle, it is not about confiscation of property.
"We have taken it to the Constitutional Court and we have won the case, we have stopped it from being done the way they wanted it to be done, which was a repressive body and went to the Venice Commission. This Commission has said that this bureau can be created with these criteria: it does not confiscate property, it conducts research, it sends it to the court, then the court decides. The Minister of Justice herself has said in the commission where I was and in the Assembly that the Bureau does not confiscate, it has come in line with the Venice standards, but there are issues that have not been addressed, they did not want to address them, then we voted against it. The LVV does not want to do it because it has had the opportunity from February until now. They are 'tired foremen'", said Gruda.
The PDK candidate for MP also emphasized that it would be more convenient for the Vetëvendosje Movement not to establish this Bureau because once it is established, "citizens will see that it is nothing, it does not confiscate property."
The Constitutional Court of Kosovo has twice declared the Law on the State Bureau for Verification and Confiscation of Unjustified Assets unconstitutional.
In the first decision of 2024, the Constitutional Court found four articles of this law to be unconstitutional and, given the importance of these articles, declared the Law on the State Bureau invalid in its entirety.
Meanwhile, in January of this year, the Constitutional Court found that the Assembly violated the rules when it passed this law.
This law aims to make all public officials in Kosovo subject to asset verification if there are suspicions that it was acquired illegally.
A month ago, the Parliament approved in principle the draft law on the State Bureau for Confiscation of Assets.
81 MPs voted in favor of this bill, with 25 abstaining.
PDK and LDK have requested changes to the draft law, emphasizing that they will only vote further with the proposed changes.
PDK has requested a public debate on this law and also cited the Constitutional Court's observation that within this law, issues cannot be left to be regulated by sub-legal acts. It has also been noted that there is no effective compensation mechanism if it turns out that a person whose assets are frozen did not have unjustified assets.
The PDK has also mentioned that the law is called the Law on Verification and Confiscation and does not fit the content, as the bureau does not confiscate and therefore cannot have such a name.
Krasniqi: The opposition feels intimidated by Kurti
The candidate for deputy from the Social Democratic Party, Frashër Krasniqi, has said that opposition parties feel intimidated by the incumbent Prime Minister Albin Kurti.
Krasniqi has said that an opposition that feels intimidated cannot be called an opposition.
He said that the Bureau for Confiscation of Unjustified Assets is a political tool for lynchings and control. Krasniqi said that the LDK voted for this and that other opposition parties will vote for it as well, as they feel intimidated by Kurti.
"They feel intimidated by Kurti, because they feel that if they don't accept it, Kurti will say that you have something to hide with unjustified wealth, and that's the reason why it's not being accepted," Krasniqi said on "Elections in Time."
He said that it is impossible to fight "authoritarianism if signs of willingness to form a coalition with it are constantly shown."
Krasniqi said that the problem Kosovo has today is that the opposition lacks legitimacy.
"You come out complaining that for 5 years the prime minister has taken over the state, and for 5 years you had Vjosa Osmani as president who stayed with Kurti until the end. And at the very end he told him that he wanted to cooperate with you again. When the LDK or Osmani come out and talk about the seized justice system, the citizen automatically says okay since it has such authoritarian tendencies, why did you want to cooperate with it. This is losing legitimacy to the opposition and making it non-existent," said Krasniqi.
He said that Vjosa Osmani has not appointed the chief state prosecutor for 4 years or more, which suits Kurti.
"We have been without a chief prosecutor for 4 years, with an acting one for 4 years and we are still here. Do you know why? After Kurti came out and said 'you are such a pistachio, you will never become chief prosecutor' and the president stood by Kurti's statement and did not decree him for 4 years, to this day we are without a chief prosecutor," said Krasniqi.
He also said that the Democratic Party of Kosovo constantly criticizes Kurti for attempting to control all institutions, to create an autocracy, and ultimately not setting red lines for the Vetëvendosje Movement.
"One person has even gone further, PDK representative Arian Tahiri has publicly declared that 'we will make him the quorum for president after the elections, because we will not let the country fall into crisis'."
Hasanpapaj on VV: The Bureau is politics for lynching, it has become politics with justice
Bardhyl Hasanpapaj, a candidate for MP from the Democratic League of Kosovo list, has criticized the Vetëvendosje Movement, saying that during its nearly six years in power, it has only blocked and attacked the judicial system.
Hasanpapaj also commented on the Bureau for the Confiscation of Unjustified Property, saying that it is political and that its sole purpose is lynching and assault.
"That Bureau for Confiscation is a bureau for lynching. Five years of stalemate, five years of stagnation, blockage, attack on justice, the judicial system. And five years of justification. Everything they have done has been justified. They have drafted laws apparently with bad intentions, with the idea that they will go to the Constitutional Court, and they will clearly be overthrown," Hasanpapaj said in "Elections in the Time".
He said that the ruling party has played politics with justice, constantly attacking it.
"It's a political issue, so if you weaken it, destroy it, and label it, then develop informal mechanisms to control it," he said.
As for the Bureau, he compared it to committees in Albania during the communist era.
"That bureau is political. It is a system of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania. That bureau for confiscation is a political bureau for lynching and assault," said Hasanpapaj.
He said that the LDK's program includes "the development of justice independently, providing it with sufficient mechanisms to be independent."