Reactions in defense of media rights continue arriving following the “shocking” and “scandalous” decision of the Kosovo Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade, which rejected the appeal of Klan Kosova television to the previous decision to suspend the media outlet’s business license.
On June 14th, this Kosovo ministry filed a criminal complaint against the Klan Kosova Trading Company, the largest television station in Kosovo, with the claim that Pec-Serbia and Djakovica-Serbia are written as locations in the business certificate.
Although international diplomats and media associations expected, after the initial intention to revoke Klan Kosova’s license, that the Commission for Review of Complaints for Business Registration would make a different decision, the commission’s decision issued on Friday read: The Business Registration Agency of Kosovo (ARBK) acted in accordance with by law when it suspended the business license of Klan Kosova.
This media outlet will now seek justice in court, as they have already announced.
„Under no circumstances will we accept such an authoritarian approach by state institutions,“ they stated after announcing this decision on Friday.
#Kosovo: pluralism of information severely threatened with rejection of complaint by country’s largest private media @klankosova_tv! By maintaining the suspension of its business certificate, @albinkurti‘s government is pushing it towards closure. This decision must be overturned https://t.co/P4tXoA9ESO pic.twitter.com/fsSsBi4x58
— RSF (@RSF_inter) July 28, 2023
The fact that the media in Kosovo, associations, individuals, intellectuals, professional media organizations in the region, and ambassadors reacted on several occasions with a message that an attack on the freedom of the media is unacceptable, and nothing similar had ever happened in Kosovo before, proved fruitless – at least for now.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti responded on Saturday to the calls by maintaining his position that he supports the decision to suspend the license of Klan Kosova.
While agreeing that the attack on the media „is an attack on democracy“, he immediately added that „democracy is also assaulted when powerful businessmen break the law for financial gain“.
He shared the information on social networks that there are 468 registered companies in Kosovo whose primary activity is media and 114 licensed audio or audiovisual companies, and that following the registration rules is a legal duty, and not a technicality. „And enforcing such rules against a single violator does nothing to threaten media pluralism,” the Kosovo PM argued.
„In a democracy, the bodies responsible for solving such cases are not in the prime minister’s office.“ „However, these bodies have the full support of the cabinet as they carry out their duties, in the face of the powerful interests of wealthy businessmen arrayed against them,“ Kurti pointed out.
“In a democracy, the bodies authorized to decide such cases do not sit in the Office of the Prime Minister. However, these bodies have our Office’s full backing as they perform their duties, in the face of the powerful interests of wealthy businessmen lined up against them.”
Quint and EU reacted on the occasion, expressing deep concern.
“We are especially concerned that revoking Klan Kosova’s business license is a disproportionate decision that will have repercussions on media plurality in Kosovo. The revocation of any media outlet’s license is a significant step requiring rigorous consideration. Freedom of expression and information are essential features of democratic societies. We expect a fair and transparent legal process to resolve the situation,” Quint said.
“The decision to confirm suspension of the Klan Kosova business license deepens our concern. I trust that in its deliberations the Independent Media Commission will honour its responsibility to safeguard media freedom and pluralism in Kosovo,“ the head of the OSCE mission in Kosovo, Michael Davenport stated.
After the harsh reaction of the Kosovo Journalists Association, which expressed shock over this decision of the Kosovo authorities, the regional media platform of the joint media „Safe Journalists“, of which AJK is a member, also reacted.
They underscored that such a decision of the Kosovo authorities jeopardizes pluralism and media freedom.
“The SafeJournalists network and the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK) are alarmed by this decision. AJK thinks this decision has been politically motivated from the start by the ruling party and PM Kurti’s government in their efforts to bring down Kosovo’s largest private TV channel. They also consider that this decision emphasizes the government’s open and unprecedented attack on the media, and it serves as a signal that other media outlets will be targeted next,” they said in a statement.
They quoted the chairperson of AJK Xhemajl Rexha, who described the decision as a brutal attempt to undermine media freedom in Kosovo and as an open and unprecedented war of this government against media.
“We are totally shocked to see the Kosovo Government and Prime Minister Kurti go this far, by taking a decision to effectively close Klan Kosova. We see it as a brutal attempt to undermine media freedom in Kosovo and as an open and unprecedented war of this Government against media in the country. We fear that the decision for the biggest TV channel in Kosovo, is just a warning for what might come for other media in the future, which are not to the liking of the ruling party,” said Rexha.
He also expressed hope in a just judicial decision for Klan Kosova to continue its operations unhindered.
The SafeJournalists network called on the court to overturn this decision of the government and thus shows that it protects democracy and the rights of citizens.
“Each attack on journalists is an attack on public interest, democracy, and the rights of all citizens,” they said, adding that they will inform relevant national and international stakeholders about this case.
Individuals also reacted, including well-known critics of Kurti’s politics, as well as those who deal with media law.
The director of „Nacionale“ Berat Buxhala also reacted to Kurti’s latest statement.
Addressing Kurti’s boasting about 468 registered media companies and 114 licensed audio or audiovisual companies, Buxhala said that thousands of media outlets are registered in Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Hungary.
“Can he even close 10 more TV stations, certainly the largest and most critical ones towards him, and still claim that there are over 400 other media outlets registered in Kosovo? How many media outlets are registered in Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and Hungary? Thousands,“ Buxhala said, adding:
“Prime Minister Kurti will never understand that it’s not him and his ministers who decide which media should be closed and which should not. Kurti is delusional; he will turn the country into a dictatorship but will insist on calling it a democratic country.“
Buxhala also stressed that Kurti’s “preferred ambassador,“ Martin Berishaj, was caught taking millions of euros from Serbia, yet Kurti “defends him fanatically.“
One of the most renowned Kosovar intellectuals and the former ambassador of Kosovo, Lulzim Peci, reacted.
„The decision to suspend the license of Klan Kosova is one of the darkest decisions of any Kosovo government in the post-war period! This act will be marked in the history of Kosovo as the most serious attack on the freedom and independence of the media in the post-war period. I don’t even know how I remembered July 5, 1990, when RTP in the Albanian language was closed! What happened today is intolerable and cannot be tolerated!“ he said on Friday, while also sharing a similar message the day after.
„The tendency for the media in Kosovo by the exponents of Self-Determination to be presented as a ‘state security issue’, as well as the threats that those who are with them are ‘keeping demek’, clearly shows the goals of this government to stop free expression in our country!“
„The height of hypocrisy here is their stigmatization by comparing Putin-sponsored media like Russia Today and Sputnik as pushing a Russian or Serbian agenda, just because you don’t like them for what they report and debate, or try to hold the government accountable, as all previous governments have done,“ Peci said.
„Citizens, like the media, have the right to be biased. In fact, the freedom of one-sidedness, together with respect for plurality, itself also sublimates the freedom of expression. This trend of the current government must be stopped, and it cannot be ignored as if nothing is happening, because if this is not done, it can very easily turn into a regime!“ – concluded the director of KIPRED.
Flutura Kusari, media law lawyer and senior advisor at the European Center for Press and Media Freedom, stated that Albin Kurti’s and Minister Rozeta Hajdari’s decision to close Klan Kosova is politically-motivated.
„The commission in MINT decided to reject the appeal of Klan Kosova and this action should be understood as the decision of Kurti’s government to shut down the media in Kosovo. The decision to suspend a business license is political, arbitrary, with wrong legal grounds, based on a fabricated procedure and by authorities and officials who do not have the authority to suspend business licenses. This is the biggest attack by a political party on media pluralism and democracy in Kosovo. I never thought that something like that would happen here. Never,“ she stated, and then presented expert assessments of why she thinks the decisions are, as she describes, „full of mistakes.“
„The original decisions were full of mistakes, which forced ARBK to change them several times. Even this decision has serious flaws. The decision made today refers to the document with reference 2008-50/155020230079177 of July 28, 2023, which, according to the decision of the MINT, was included by the party in the appeal (namely, Klan Kosova). Klan Kosova has not submitted any document today and does not have any document with this reference number in its possession. This clearly proves that the decision is illegal. Klan Kosova has the opportunity to appeal in court and I have hope in the court, but that does not change the government’s political position to shut down the media in Kosovo.“
“I urge you all to not be silent and to react and raise your voice on your platforms. This is not just a battle for Klan Kosova. This is the battle of the whole society,“ concluded Kusari.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
