PRISTINA, 18.06.2018 – The Basic Court in Pristina appointed the judge, Arben Hoti as a coordinator of this court who will deal with cases of media and journalist’s.
President of the basic Court in Pristina, Aferdita Bytyci said on Monday that she has appointed the judge, Arben Hoti as a coordinator who will deal with cases of threats and attacks against journalists.
“We inform you that for the cases of media and journalists to be treated by the Basic Court in Pristina, we have appointed the judge/vice president of the Court, Mr. Arben Hoti. For each case that it is being treated by Basic Court in Pristina and its branches, you can contact judge Hoti,” president Bytyci said in a letter.
The appointment of Judge Arben Hoti comes after a meeting held recently between representatives of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo with the chairman of the Kosovo’s Judicial Council, Nehat Idrizi and president of Basic Court in Pristina, Aferdita Bytyci.
AJK welcomes the appointment of Judge Hoti because we believe that from now on the cases related to journalists are going to be treated seriously from the side of judges, which would inevitably have an impact in protection of media freedom and journalist’s safety as well as in increase of professionalism in media.
AJK encourages all media and journalists that are in any judicial contest, whether criminal or civil, to contact the Association by sending the detailed information of the cases. By doing this, we would together with the Court create a precise database of cases and the coordinator would work on the cases.
We reiterate that beside the Basic Court, also the State Prosecution has appointed a National Coordinator for cases of journalists as well as there are local prosecutors that will deal exclusively with cases of threats against the journalists.
The Association of Journalists of Kosovo praise the dedication and readiness of justice and security institutions to deal with cases of journalists that would create a safer and secure environment for doing journalism in the country.