The Weakest Link of Kosovo's Democracy - KFOS

Lack of Systematic Legislation for Judiciary, Process
of re-evaluation of Judges and Prosecutors and the
Backlog chaos in courts
Kujtim Kerveshi
Lack of systematic legislation for judiciary
Lack of legal infrastructure in Kosovo is the main cause of lack of legal safety and
creation of authoritarian interpretation the way bearers of the process feel in special
moments or the qay it is imposed by the process or persons carrying out the process.
Lack of main legal infrastructure for re-evaluation of judges and prosecutors and
systematic legislation in the area of judiciary such as the Law on Courts, the Law on
Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Law on Prosecutorial Council and the Law on Judicial
Council, have caused big confusion among bearers of the process but also among
judges and prosecutors, who are not part of institutions any more and those that have
joined now.
This legal infrastructure was related to high political interests and immense political
influence from the very first moments of preparing this legal infrastructure from 2004
onwards, until it was promulgated in 2010. Preparation of systematic legislation on
judiciary should have been accomplished in 2006 (when Kosovan institutions did not
have full powers in this area), but these laws were carried over to legislative strategies
of each coming year, although after the declaration of independence institutions
of the Republic of Kosovo faced no obstruction, as far as responsibility is concerned,
to prepare this infrastructure.
Apart from these laws, our institutions, including the Government and Judicial Council,
have not developed any legislation that refers to re-evaluation. On the contrary, this
process was conducted based on UNMIK legislation, which was replaced/amended
several times, and some provisions of regulations of 1999 caused obscurity during
their application in respect of re-evaluation of judges and prosecutors in Kosovo.
Furthermore, now that this process is completed and more than 60% of judges and
prosecutors are new in their positions and will be evaluated following the completion
of their three-year mandate, our institutions have not ensured the legislation and the
institutions that will prepare re-evaluation process for new judges and prosecutors.
Background of the problem of lack of legislation
The infrastructure of legislation on judiciary was partly composed of legislation as
old as the period of former Yugoslavia, as well as legislation promulgated by UNMIK
during the years of absolute administration of this sector by this mission, as well as
regulations promulgated by the SRSG that transferred powers partly from this area to
local institutions (Regulations 2005/52, 2005/53, 2006/26 etc).
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The Weakest Link of Kosovo’s Democracy
forum 2015