MPs Ask to See Serb Judges' Oaths to Kosovo

Kosovo Serb prosecutors and judges during the swearing-in ceremony with President Thaci. Photo: Kosovo Presidency

Opposition lawmakers from the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK and Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) demanded on Thursday that the presidency releases a video of Tuesday's swearing-in ceremony for new Serb judges and prosecutors that was closed to media.

The MPs said the lack of transparency raises questions over the content of the oath that the Serb judges and prosecutors took when they were sworn in by President Hashim Thaci.

"I have raised this issue because I'm concerned that the judges and prosecutors appointed by the president have either taken no oath, or have taken a modified oath to eliminate the Republic of Kosovo as a state to which they are expressing loyalty and the obligation to implement the constitution and applicable laws," LDK MP Korab Sejdi told BIRN on Thursday.

Sejdiu, who is also an LDK member of Assembly Committee on Legislation, said there no way to confirm whether or not the judges and prosecutors sworn in on Tuesday feel obliged to uphold Kosovo's constitution and laws.

"Therefore it is simply a concern that would disappear with the publication of a video by the president's office in which the oath given by the judges and prosecutors in question would be clearly seen, as happened with all other judges and prosecutors who are part of the judiciary of the Republic of Kosovo," he explained.

Albulena Haxhiu, a Vetevendosje MP and the head of Assembly Committee on Legislation, said that the process has been kept out the public eye, and also alleged that the choices of judges and prosecutors had been made "with the approval of Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic".

"We require evidence - the [appointment] decree, the oath taken by the judges and prosecutors and all the accompanying documents," Haxhiu told BIRN...

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