With 11 votes in favour, none against and no abstentions, the Committee on Legislation, Mandates, Immunities, the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly and Oversight of the Anti-Corruption Agency today approved four draft laws related to international agreements on legal cooperation with Sweden and Belgium, Ekonomia Online reports.
Before the vote, committee member Besnik Tahiri, from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), asked committee chair Vigan Qorrolli to clarify the specific matters covered by the agreements.
“Could someone explain what criminal matters we are talking about?” he asked.
Committee chair Vigan Qorrolli, from the Vetëvendosje Movement (LVV), said the agreements concerned international legal cooperation between Kosovo and the Kingdom of Sweden.
“These are international agreements concluded between our country and the Kingdom of Sweden in the field of international legal cooperation. The first concerns criminal matters and covers all relations between the states in the field of criminal law. The second concerns extradition, and the third concerns the transfer of sentenced persons. This is a general package of agreements that states conclude with one another in the field of criminal justice. If a citizen of the Republic of Kosovo is in Sweden, or a Swedish citizen is in Kosovo, and faces criminal proceedings, or if a Kosovar citizen is serving a sentence in Sweden, that person may be transferred to the Republic of Kosovo to serve the sentence, in accordance with the principles of international law,” Qorrolli said.
Meanwhile, PDK MP Blerta Deliu-Kodra called for Justice Minister Donika Gërvalla to report to the committee on the agreements, arguing that this had been the established practice and should not be bypassed.
“We have just voted on a number of international agreements that are subject to ratification by the Kosovo Assembly. The established practice, Mr Chair, has been for the minister to come before the committee and report on these agreements. We are not talking about agreements that do not require detailed consideration. I believe the Assembly must not abandon these good practices, because the minister has held bilateral meetings with representatives of these countries. It would be appropriate, both for the public and for us as MPs, for her to come and brief us before the vote. We have an oversight role here. Our votes were in favour, but I believe these practices must not be bypassed, and votes should not take place in the manner they did today,” Deliu-Kodra said.
The draft laws approved at the meeting include the Bill on Ratification of the Agreement between the Republic of Kosovo and the Kingdom of Sweden on Extradition, the Agreement on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, and the Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.
The committee also approved the Bill on Ratification of the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between Kosovo and the Kingdom of Belgium.
