Number of Kosovo Candidates Under Probes Causes Concern

Senior international actors and Kosovo-based organisations have criticised the number of politicians running for office in December's general election who are under suspicion of offences ranging from war crimes to corruption.

One member of the Central Election Commission, Fadil Maloku, voted against last Thursday's decision of the Commission to certify the candidates' list, saying they should have awaited the legal outcome facing some of the candidates under investigation. "The law has been violated. Candidates have been certified without any decision or opinion from the legal office," Maloku said.

The head of the Commission, Valdete Daka, disputed this, saying the law only banned candidates who had been found guilty of criminal offences, not people under probes. "No candidates can be certified if they've been found guilty of a criminal offence... in the past three years," Daka explained.

Two of the ten top candidates of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, the party of the Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, are under criminal investigation. One is the Minister of Transport, Fatmir Limaj. He has been under an investigation by the EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX, since April 2010, suspected of corruption.

The other is Azem Syla, a former Kosovo Liberation Army commander. He has also been under a EULEX investigation since a self-declared assassin, Nazim Blaca, mentioned his name in November 2009 when he went public over his crimes.

Blaca admitted having once worked for Kosovo's unofficial secret service, SHIK, and mentioned several names in connection with SHIK's activities, including Syla's. Limaj and Syla and four and fifth respectively on the PDK's list of candidates.

Thaci's party is not the only one with candidates facing possible trial. The leader of the opposition Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, leads his party's list in December although he is awaiting re-trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, ICTY, in The Hague.

Another party leader seeking a seat in parliament in December is the former speaker of the Kosovo assembly, Nexhat Daci, head of the Democratic League of Dardania. On November 10, a Pristina court found him guilty of abusing his official post and gave him an 18 months' suspended jail sentence.

Andy Sparkes, deputy head of EULEX, said that while everyone accepted the principle that people were innocent until proven guilty, the selection of some candidates sent an unfortunate signal.

"Where it's known that someone is under an investigation or judicial procedure, it would be better and more honourable, and better for the reputation of Kosovo, if they didn't present themselves for public office until they had cleared their names," Sparkes said.

Avni Zogiani, head of the anti-corruption organisation Cohu, said that the judicial system in Kosovo was too corrupt to keep people with criminal records out of pubic life. "Where is the ethics in our society today?" he asked.