Seminar on “Internal and external communication”, in cooperation with the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council (KPC) on 19-20 December 2022 in Pristina. Kosovo
Press officers of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council (KPC) and various Kosovan public prosecutor's offices and courts discussed current issues of internal and external communication by judicial authorities on 19-20 December 2022. The exchange was the result of discussions within the framework of the cooperation between IRZ and KPC and followed on from the long-standing cooperation between the two institutions in press and public relations work in the judicial sector.
The event offered the 19 participants the opportunity to exchange views on various aspects of internal and external communication, to identify current challenges and to ascertain the drivers and recommendations for everyday practice. In addition to the general principles of good communication, the speakers discussed cooperation between the police, the public prosecutor's office and court, data protection regulations in criminal proceedings, the possibilities of litigation PR and the use of social media by public institutions.
In this context, Ms. Brigitte Koppenhöfer, former Presiding Judge at the District Court of Düsseldorf, and Ms. Katrin Latki-Baier, PR and Communications Consultant, presented the German and partly European legal framework, existing guidelines and experiences and practical examples.
A committed exchange of experiences developed between the team of experts and participants from various professional groups and institutions during the two-day event.
The Federal Foreign Office financed the event, which is part of the project “Support for several Western Balkan countries in consolidating rule-of-law and European standards”.
IRZ will expand and deepen the cooperation with KPC on issues of communication and public relations in the justice sector in 2023.
Hybrid seminar on “Insolvency law - insights into Kosovan, German and European practice” in cooperation with the Kosovo Judicial Academy held on 8 November 2022. Kosovo
IRZ is supporting the Kosovo Judicial Academy in the education and training of judges and public prosecutors. In 2022 the cooperation focused on commercial (criminal) law, and various seminars were held on the topic.
Seminar on “Insolvency law - insights into Kosovan, German and European practice”
In this context, a hybrid seminar on corporate insolvency law was held with the participation of 18 judges at the Judicial Academy on 8 November 2022. Speakers and participants at the event explored the national and European legal framework, practical aspects of insolvency proceedings, the role of the court, the interaction between the insolvency administrator, the company and its creditors and the rights and obligations of creditors. In this context, Mahir Tutulli, President of the Kosovan Commercial Court, first presented the Kosovan legal framework. Johannes Fritzen, Associate in the Frankfurt office of the law firm, Dentons, and member of the “Restructuring and Insolvency” practice group, then gave the participants an insight into German insolvency law and important aspects of international insolvency proceedings.
Seminar on “Anti-Money Laundering”
IRZ and the Judicial Academy organised another hybrid seminar on money laundering issues on 1-2 December 2022. The event was attended by three judges and six prosecutors. Prof Dr Mohamad El-Ghazi, Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law at the University of Trier and Director of the Trier Institute for Money Laundering and Corruption Criminal Law; Prof Dr Till Zimmermann, Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law including European and international references at the University of Trier, and Managing Director of the Trier Institute for Money Laundering and Corruption Criminal Law; and Prof Dr Kilian Wegner, junior professor for criminal law attended for the IRZ.
The main discussion topics included:
Money laundering as a crime associated with organised crime
The seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of crime
Procedural obstacles to the prosecution of money laundering
Possible alternatives to traditional money laundering
Relationship between predicate offence and money laundering
The role of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in combating money laundering
Criminal penalties in the area of money laundering
Issues of mutual legal assistance and international cooperation in money laundering investigations.
Behar Xhema, Deputy Director of the Kosovan Financial Intelligence Unit, and Valon Kurtaj, Judge at the Court of First Instance in Pristina, started by presenting the national legal framework and numerous examples from Kosovan practice for the various points on the agenda. The speakers and attendees then jointly identified the similarities, differences, current challenges and international best practices.
The Federal Foreign Office financed both events and participated as part of the project “Support for several states in the Western Balkans in consolidating rule of law and European standards”.
The aim of the seminars, which are organised in collaboration with the Kosovo Judicial Academy, is to share and extend the knowledge and skills among the participants. In addition, legal education and training in Kosovo should increasingly be based on European standards in terms of designing curricula, the capacities and quality of the teaching methods, academic content and teaching staff.
Cooperation with the Kosovo Judicial Academy on the issues of legal education and training will therefore also be the focus of project work in Kosovo in 2023.
Presentation of the project film as part of the 9th Steering Committee Meeting of the EUKOJUST project. On the screen is Albulena Haxhiu, Minister of Justice of Kosovo. Kosovo
The EU “EUKOJUST” project heralded the last third of the entire project: the last third of the project was launched in January 2023, marked by the regular Steering Committee meeting, which was held for the 9th year on 25 January 2023.
This time, as in previous years, the highest-ranking officers of the Kosovan Judiciary attended this Steering Committee meeting:
Blerim Sallahu, Deputy Minister of Justice
Albert Zogaj, Chair of the Judicial Council
Veton Shabani, Vice Chair of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council
Enver Fejzullahu, Director of the Kosovo Judicial Academy
Valdete Daka, Acting President of the Supreme Court
Mentor Borovci, Head of the Legal Office of the Prime Minister's Office
Nicola Scaramuzzo, Team Leader of the EU office in Kosovo; the Deputy German Ambassador Matthias Conrad; the project team led by Volkmar Theobald and representatives of other institutions; the sponsors; the IRZ; and the consortium partners also participated.
Current developments
The participation of the actors was unusual this particular time, as relations between the Kosovan government on the one hand and the judiciary representatives and bodies on the other had been troubled in the several weeks previously.
In response to a government decision in November 2022, which included reducing the salaries of all judges and public prosecutors, the latter largely halted all cooperation with the Ministry. The initial strikes in courts and public prosecutor's offices were called off after a short while, but any constructive cooperation between the executive and the judiciary, notably in terms of urgent judicial reforms, was impossible.
This situation posed a challenge to maintaining a functioning judiciary in the country and also created difficulties in the implementation of the project. Targeted and coordinated cooperation between all actors in the judiciary is a key prerequisite for effective implementation of the national judicial reform strategy to which Kosovo is committed. The aim of the project is to “institutionalise” this cooperation and relies on the active participation of all the stakeholders.
The tense situation was discussed at the 9th Steering Committee Meeting. Fortunately, the representatives of the two councils welcomed a relaxation of the situation to enable the joint reforms to proceed on a secure basis.
IRZ and the project partners CILC and the Croatian Ministry of Justice and Administration, will promote this cooperation even more vigorously in Q2 2023 and support the institutionalisation of such.
