Kosovo’s judicial system is facing numerous challenges due to widespread misinformation, defamatory accusations, and the public’s lack of understanding of the competences of judiciary and security institutions.
The blending of responsibilities between Kosovo’s police, prosecutors, and courts, coupled with biased reporting from media and unfounded claims by politicians, has led to confusion and mistrust in Kosovo’s judicial system.
Experts emphasise the importance of media literacy to help the public discern accurate information from disinformation.
Arbër Jashari, Kosovo based lawyer, told Kallxo Përnime TV Programme that “in Kosovo, disinformation finds fertile ground because there isn’t proper education. Journalists who report on the justice system report correctly but the disinformation comes from those who have no clue what’s happening in court,” Jashari added.
Kreshnik Gashi, managing editor of Kallxo.com, told Kallxo Pernime TV Show on September 14 that most of the disinformation that appears in public is because of confusion on the responsibilities of the police, prosecution, and the courts.
“In Kosovo, there is no clear distinction between what a court is and what the justice system encompasses. In the collective narrative, there is a failure to separate the responsibilities of each of the individuals who play a role in this system,” he said.
Media literacy needed to prevent disinformation
Experts agreed that investment in media literacy could prevent disinformation by teaching people to be able to fact check their sources.
Dren Gërguri, a professor and fake news combating expert, said that “there needs to be critical judgement of the media content we are exposed to from any source of information.”
“This media education should even be included within the justice system,” he argued, citing a social experiment that found that “50 percent of judges couldn’t identify a false piece of information”.
“Media education should be extended to every segment of the population because it is not part of the school curriculum or an elective subject, which is insufficient when you consider the role the media plays in society,” he added.
Valon Kurtaj, head of the Special Department at the Basic Court of Prishtina stated that “false news can damage the image of the justice system for a short time, until the public learns the truth.”
Gashi explained that based on the monitoring of media reports on courts, it can be concluded that the narratives being disseminated contain easily identifiable falsehoods.
“Through these narratives, there is an attempt to damage the credibility of the court,” Gashi said.
Kurtaj claimed that the courts should be more active in disseminating information to preempt potential disinformation from the media.
Disinformation Targeting Legal Processes
In many cases, aside from misinforming the public, various reports aim to damage judicial proceedings or create narratives that judges are not doing their job, which experts consider even more problematic.
“Most people I meet say their lawyer didn’t give them all the information the law guarantees but instead told them, ‘It’s a bit political, they’re doing it out of spite.’ Lawyers have tried to present services guaranteed by law as their own offerings. For example, appointing a judge is done by a computer system, not manually,” Gashi added.
“If a lawyer spreads disinformation, it becomes challenging to convince the client in court that they will have a fair trial,”he continued.
Jashari added that in Kosovo, there is a common sentiment that nothing works, and the courts are attacked the most.
“There are some cases that, despite the judiciary’s efforts, attract a lot of attention and affect the reputation and trust in the courts. People believe that someone can commit murder and be released,” Jashari stated.
According to Kurtaj, the narrative about the courts should not be built on certain citizens’ opinions, especially those who may have never had any dealings with the judiciary.
Moreover, judges in Kosovo have the right to defend themselves and pursue judicial proceedings through lawsuits in case their credibility or their case is attempted to be damaged by unfounded or tendentious publications.
“We can’t blame the court for not sending someone to detention if the prosecutor hasn’t requested it,” Gashi said.
“We have defendants who are allowed to leave detention, but we don’t yet have a standard preventing someone charged with million-euro corruption from making media appearances, intimidating witnesses, or sending political messages to judges,” he added.