The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said on Tuesday that the implementation of electronic monitoring will fight domestic violence like never before.
He made these statements after a meeting organized by the Kosovo Police, which demonstrated how the links for electronic monitoring of perpetrators of violence or suspects will work.
Most victims of domestic violence are women.
The law on electronic surveillance entered into force in June 2015, but it has never been implemented.
The electronic surveillance, which will take effect immediately, will apply to each individual, authorities said, as soon as there is a court decision on the protection order.
"It has been an urgent request that our police, in order to have more efficient prevention, better investigations and more comprehensive treatments, go to this stage of links for electronic monitoring".
The link will be placed on the leg or hand of the perpetrator, or the suspect, while the victims and the authorities will have the trackers.
If the victim is approached by the suspect in the area prohibited by the court, the signal goes automatically to the local and central level of the police, and the standard procedures for intervention begin.
"We have the biggest problems because protective orders are not respected. The defect is not simply the lack of links for electronic monitoring, but the non-compliance with protective orders. Since there are those who will continue to disobey the protective orders, we have taken a giant step to supervise all these people", said Kurti.
The Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, has said that domestic violence is not a private matter, it is the responsibility of the institutions, therefore she expects serious actions from the prosecution and the courts.
According to Haxhiu, soft punishments can only encourage the perpetrators.
The Minister of the Interior, Xelal Sveçla, has said that the surveillance links will also be used for the prevention of other criminal offenses, but the priority will be to prevent the recurrence of violence against women.
The Chief of Police, Gazmend Hoxha, said that the police had an obligation to implement the existing law and this was made possible after the Government allocated a special budget, without mentioning the figure.
Since 2010, 58 women have been killed in Kosovo.
Human rights organizations have, in some cases, blamed the authorities for failing to protect women at risk of violence.
In most cases, the perpetrators of the murders were the husbands, then the fathers and the sons./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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