SPEECH OF CHAIRMAN ISUFAJ AT THE ROUNDTABLE: LEGALITY OF THE JUDICIAL AND PROSECUTORIAL COUNCIL
Prishtina, 27th of April 2016 – Today, Chairman of Kosovo Prosecutorial Council (KPC), Blerim Isufaj, has attended the roundtable: “Legality of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Council”, organized by Kosovo Law Institute.
KPC Chairman, Blerim Isufaj, in the capacity of the panellist of this roundtable before the attendees has said the following:
“As you are aware, following the legal amendments that took place in June of the last year, Kosovo Prosecutorial Council now has a new structure and representation.
I am honoured to provide a presentation at this roundtable and, in the capacity of the KPC Chairman I can say that the new structure and representation of the Council, although accompanied with various challenges has marked obvious advancements in different directions.
Law on Amending and Supplementing the Law on the Council has set a very positive representative system, which enables to every level of Prosecution to have its representative in the Council.
At the end of 2015, within the legal deadline, selection of Council members took place, and the respective has been done in a very transparent and comprehensive manner, and lastly it has removed all dilemmas in regard to the respect of legal criteria on selection of the Council members.
Now we are expecting fulfilment of the Council with new members coming from non-Prosecutors community. All actions belonging to us as Council in terms of fulfilment of the named positions have been undertaken, and now it is in the competence of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosova to select representatives of Kosovo Chamber Advocates, Faculty of Law and civil society.
There is important to be mentioned that since January of 2016 Council has conducted different activities in regard to its institutional development.
Council upon the new composition, in place since January 2016, namely, has held five (5) meetings.
Among others in those meetings Council has approved some Regulations, it has set in function four (4) out of five (5) permanent Committees, it has established temporary Committees and it has brought different Decision in the function of implementing its mandate.
Approved Regulations are:
- Regulation on the Transfer and Promotion of State Prosecutors
- Regulation on Inter-Institutional Cooperation
Currently, in order to complete sublegal infrastructure of the Council we are working on some other Regulations as well.
When tackling the matter of Regulations, there is important to emphasize that following the legal amendments, Prosecutorial Council since July of 2015 has approved 12 important Regulations, which are regarding the organizational structure and functioning of the Council and State Prosecutor, as well as recruitment, evaluation and disciplining of State Prosecutors.
In the first meetings, current composition of the Council has also approved Strategic Plan for time period 2016-2018, through which are set four (4) general objectives, given as follows:
- Strengthening of the Institutional Structure and Capacities of prosecutorial system;
- Advancement of competencies and professionalism;
- Extending Access to Justice and Public Relations;
- Improvement of Services and Technology.
Upon the new composition, Council has also established its permanent Committees, as given below:
- Committee for Normative Acts;
- Committee for Budget, Finances and Staff;
- Disciplinary Committee; and
- Committee for Prosecutors` Performance Evaluation.
Upon the completion of the Council with non-Prosecutor members, the Committee in charge of Prosecutions` Administration will immediately become functional, in which will be represented and the given members of the Council as well.
Since January 2016, Council has established some temporary Committees, such as: Committee in charge of Prosecutors` Recruitment and Examination, Committee in charge of Prosecutors` Transfer and Promotion and so on and so forth.
Important decisions of the Council are also those regarding Prosecutors recruitment. Within this process, since January this year was conducted the analysis on the needed number of Prosecutors, there was announced vacancy for 22 positions for Prosecutors, and for the first time was drafted the Examination for Prosecutors, which is expected to be administered in the following weeks as foreseen by a concrete plan. Council has also taken the Decision on publishing the announcement on the transfer and promotion of Prosecutors, and the named process is expected to be in place in the following days.
A very significant process currently being administered by the Council is recruitment of 6 Prosecutors and 34 administrative staff positions, which is being conducted within the integration of Serbian minority in the prosecutorial system of the Republic of Kosova.
Important activities are being undertaken regarding the Prosecutors` Performance Evaluation Process as well, and in the following days Council will approve the new three-year scheme on Prosecutors` evaluation, as set by Law and Regulation.
Other significant activities undertaken by the Council are providing services for all Prosecutions, recruitment of the staff for unfilled positions, consolidation of the budget through budget increase, preparations for regulating positions of prosecutorial staff upon a special law, and so on and so forth.
Lastly, I can say that Council is undertaking intensive activities in regard to putting in function Electronic Case Management System as well.
Since January of 2016, there are approved Strategies on solving corruption and organized crime cases, Unit in charge of dealing with corruption and economic cases has also been established, there are drafted reports and there are met certain obligations deriving from European integration process.
Important activities, in which the Council will be focused in the future, are:
- Improvement of budgetary positions of the prosecutorial system;
- Drafting important Regulations, such as;
- Regulation on KPC Secretariat;
- Regulation on Prosecutions` Performance Evaluation;
- Regulation on Interception Unit;
- Regulation on Public Communication;
- Regulation on the Disciplinary Liability of KPC members, etc.
- Completion of Council with members that Council is currently lacking;
- Completion of the recruitment process of Prosecutors and administrative staff;
- Transfer and Promotion of Prosecutors (according to the needs, in particular for SPRK and Prosecutions in which there is lack of Prosecutors);
- Regular Prosecutors` Performance Evaluation;
- Prosecutors` and administrative staff of prosecutorial system capacities building, in cooperation with Judicial Institute and other partners, through trainings and other capacity building programs;
- Overseeing implementation of Council Regulations and Decisions;
- Raising cooperation level with local partners, such as: Assembly, Government, Judicial Council, Ministry of Justice, Judicial Institute, Chamber of Advocates, Ministry of Integrations and Ministry of Finances and other important stakeholders;
- Carrying on with cooperation with international partners that support prosecutorial system and justice system in general.
Lastly, I use the opportunity to greet Kosovo Law Institute and all others who have contributed in drafting those reports”.
