Criminal charges filed against Hashim Thaci for "calling for disrespect of coronavirus measures"

Hashim Thaci; Photo: Profimedia/AFP

Acting and outgoing Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Kosovo Xhelal Svecla had filed a criminal complaint against Kosovo President Hashim Thaci before the Basic Prosecutor's Office in Pristina, accusing him of a "call for resistance" over his a March 23 statement calling for disrespecting government decisions on protective measures against coronavirus.

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The complaint states that Thaci issued a statement at a press conference on March 23, calling for disrespecting the government's decisions, stating that "citizens are not under obligation to respect unconstitutional decisions and no one can punish them for that."

"Neither the Kosovo police nor the security organs should enforce this unconstitutional decision of the government, because in this way they themselves are committing a crime," Thaci said, RTS is reporting.

Svecla states that the Constitution provides for a total of 30 competencies of the Kosovo president and that none of them are related to assessing the legality and constitutionality of the government's decisions, and that Thaci has committed the offense of "calling for resistance."

"Through his statements and calls for disrespecting the government's decision, on March 23, 2020, in addition to causing insecurity among citizens, Thaci could also have caused chaos in the streets and 'contributed' to a greater spread of the virus as a result of citizens who would not respect the decision of the government," the acting minister, who comes from the Self-Determination Movement, said in his filing.

(Telegraf.rs)