Vetevendosje MP, Dimal Basha has used his speech in the Kosovo Parliament to continue his unprecedented attacks against media and members of the civil society.
“This Government is the only one to has stopped the flow of money towards media, and no cent goes to them. So, if we wanted to capture them, we would do what others did. But, the change shows we don’t want to capture them”, Basha said. This is an unacceptable attack against media freedoms and the plural media environment in Kosovo. Basha has singled out specifically, ECPMF media lawyer and activist, Flutura Kusari.
“It also matters who speaks. For example, we have Flutura Kusari who wants to dictate the entire Kosovo Parliament on how we should draft the law on IMC, whereas she is the same person who, in the name of freedom of expression, goes into the streets to protect Devolli [referring to her participation in the protest against shutting down of Klan Kosova owned by Devolli family].One cannot defend oligarchs in the name of media freedom, and nor can it extort this Republic.”, Basha said. The attack against Kusari is unacceptable, dangerous, and gender-based.
The accusations by Basha from the Parliament floor put Kusari in a dangerous situation, and aim to silence the critical voices of civil society Kusari, along with members of AJK and other actors of civil society have raised their concern about the IMC law within the Information Integrity Forum of NDI.
Our concerns have been reflected in the report of the Council of Europe report, which called on the Kosovo Assembly to not adopt the law as it is because it does not meet the Council of Europe criteria. The EU Office in Kosovo, alongside German and Italian embassies has also called on the Assembly to harmonize the law with European best practices, before adopting it.
Basha’s language is a reflection of the policies and work of Vetevendosje and the Government against media freedoms, freedom of expression, and media pluralism in Kosovo.
