Serb List urges Quint to protect Judge Laban and demand authorities end his persecution

The Serb List has sent a letter to the embassies of Quint countries in Pristina regarding attacks on Constitutional Court Judge Radomir Laban, demanding that they publicly protect him and call on Kosovo authorities to stop his ongoing political persecution, Kosovo Online has learned.

According to information obtained by Kosovo Online, the letter states that the Serb List, convinced of the complete innocence of Serbian Constitutional Court Judge Radomir Laban, is requesting that the embassies of the Quint states publicly protect him and formally call on President Vjosa Osmani, caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti, caretaker Minister of Justice Albulena Haxhiu, and all Albanian political parties to cease his ongoing political persecution, which, as the Serb List notes, is entirely based on discrimination against a Serbian judge of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo.

The Serb List points out that Laban is clearly being attacked because he is the easiest target, as a member of the Serbian community, and at this particular moment, since the current institutional crisis would be irreversibly deepened if the Constitutional Court, without Judge Radomir Laban, were left without a quorum, which would completely block the further work of that institution and lead to a total blockade of forming the Assembly in accordance with the electoral will of the citizens.

The Serb List calls absurd the claims that Judge Laban bears any responsibility for causing the institutional crisis, since the Kosovo Assembly has not yet been formed.

They explain that the Constitutional Court has seven judges and makes all decisions by majority vote, meaning that Judge Laban’s vote for or against any decision has absolutely no impact on the outcome, given that the majority is made up of Albanian judges. They note that only a month ago, the Constitutional Court adopted a decision regarding the constitutional crisis which was welcomed by all senior officials, and at that time Judge Laban was also a member of the court.

They emphasize that the only way Laban could cause a constitutional crisis would be to resign, thereby depriving the court of a quorum.

They also note that Laban has served as a Constitutional Court judge since 2018, and during his tenure, the court has issued nearly 2,000 rulings in which he took part, concluding that his impartiality is questioned only when decisions do not suit the ruling Albanian political elite.

They recall that since his appointment he has been under constant political pressure from all Albanian political parties, and in 2024, in an effort to escape that pressure, Judge Laban sought to leave the court by applying for the position of notary in Gracanica.

However, despite meeting all legal requirements, he was illegally denied the notary license by caretaker Minister of Justice Albulena Haxhiu, the Serb List notes.

They further question – if this is not open discrimination on ethnic grounds – what state secrets Judge Radomir Laban could possibly obtain while serving as a notary in Gracanica.

As a result, the Serb List concludes, this obvious ethnic discrimination has led to a completely absurd situation: that, for the constitutional order of Kosovo, it is allegedly more dangerous for Laban to be a licensed notary in Gracanica, a position from which the Minister of Justice can remove him at the slightest error, than to remain a Constitutional Court judge, whose dismissal is now being sought by that same acting minister of justice.

Finally, they call on Judge Radomir Laban, if the Quint embassies are unable to publicly stand up for the only Serbian judge in the Constitutional Court – given that the Serbian community has no other mechanism of protection – to no longer endure institutional violence and to tender his irrevocable resignation from the court, since it is senseless for him, as a member of the Serbian community, to be more committed to upholding the constitutional order than Vjosa Osmani, Albin Kurti, Albulena Haxhiu, and other representatives of Albanian political parties.

His resignation, they note, would leave the Constitutional Court without a quorum, shifting the burden of resolving the political crisis from the court to the political representatives of the Albanian parties.

A few days ago, caretaker Minister of Justice Albulena Haxhiu, at a press conference, called for the initiation of proceedings to dismiss Judge Laban, claiming he had “been involved in criminal activities and poses a threat to the constitutional order of Kosovo.”

This was preceded by President Vjosa Osmani’s announcement that she was withdrawing her previously submitted request to the Constitutional Court regarding the constitutive session of the Kosovo Assembly, due to Laban being appointed reporting judge in that process.