For the second time in less than a year, the Kosovo government has adopted the Draft Law for the ratification of the agreement Kosovo had initially made with the Kingdom of Denmark three years ago allowing the use of the prison in Gnjilane to house Danish prisoners.
„The Government of the Republic of Kosovo held an online meeting where it adopted the Draft Law on the Ratification of the Agreement between the Republic of Kosovo and the Kingdom of Denmark, for the use of the Penitentiary Institution in Gnjilane for the purpose of serving Danish-issued sentences,“ reads today’s announcement of the Kosovo government.
They recalled that this agreement was signed by the Ministers of Justice of Kosovo and Denmark on April 26, 2022 in Pristina and May 16, 2022 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
This Draft Law, under the same name, was also adopted in June last year – at the 145th session of the Kosovo government. The announcement at the time said that the draft law “ratifies the agreement signed by the justice ministries of both countries.”
The Kosovo government did not specify the reasons why this Draft Law was adopted for the second time, and whether there are any differences in the content of these two drafts.
Blockade in the Assembly?
Ever since the news emerged in mid-December 2021 about the alleged project to send Danish detainees to Kosovo, where they will be housed in prison cells in Gnjilane, it immediately garnered attention of the region.
That same month, Kosovo and Denmark first signed a letter of consent, specifying that Kosovo would lease 300 prison cells to Denmark to be used by prisoners serving a sentence of up to 10 years. In exchange, Denmark undertook to pay Kosovo 210 million euros in the following years.
As the Kosovo media reported at the time, the letter stated that Denmark undertakes an annual payment of 15 million euros, depending on the number of inmates, as well as an initial payment of compensation of 5 million euros for the transitional period, until capacity is filled.
Kosovo officials, as well as Danish ones, said at the time that the prisoners housed in Gnjilane penitentiary would be ones mainly charged with theft, murder, smuggling, etc. After serving their sentence, they would be deported back to Denmark. There was speculation and media reports that Denmark had suspended the decision, which the Kosovo authorities denied.
The following year, in April and May, the letter was turned into a contract, and the plan was for the first prisoners to arrive at the beginning of 2023, and before that, Denmark would renovate the Gnjilane facility.
But the agreement first had to be ratified in the Assembly.
However, the government gave the green light in June 2023, and it was on the agenda of the Assembly for the first time the following month.
Less than a year later, the situation is not that different. Last week, May 16 – this agreement again did not receive the necessary support of the deputies in the plenary session, after which (today) the Draft Law was again adopted by the government.
In the meantime, the Minister of Justice of Denmark, Peter Humelgaard, visited Kosovo this February,
and spoke optimistically about the agreement and its adoption in the Kosovo Assembly.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
