The Kosovo Law Institute (KLI) has demanded institutional accountability regarding the tragic death of a 33-year-old man who drowned in Lake Ujman.
This young man was reported to have jumped off a bridge and drowned in Lake Ujman. His body was found only three days later by specialized search and rescue teams of the Kosovo Security Force.
The IKL's response states that "the promotion of Lake Ujman as a bathing area, the lack of signage prohibiting bathing, and the lack of institutional response could have been factors leading to the tragic death of July 27."
IKL has requested that an institutional investigation be initiated immediately regarding this case.
"According to the Law on Kosovo Waters, the Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (MMPHI) in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, Municipalities and Water Service Companies, by sub-legal act designates bathing areas. According to Administrative Instruction No. 20/2015 on criteria for bathing areas, this obligation was to be fulfilled by 2018 at the latest. The designation of a designated bathing area, according to this Administrative Instruction, entails the obligation to undertake nine (9) management measures," the KLI response states.
It is further stated that so far there has been no public announcement as to whether that area in Lake Ujman is for bathing.
"Furthermore, there are no announcements as to whether bathing in this area is permitted or prohibited. Meanwhile, the factual situation is that for some time now this lake has been used for bathing by citizens. The institutions of the Republic of Kosovo, instead of fulfilling their legal obligations regarding the designation of bathing areas and undertaking management measures, as required by the Law and Administrative Instruction, have proclaimed the lake as a bathing area. Government officials, including MPs and ministers, have personally gone to Lake Ujman and have publicly distributed images of people bathing in Lake Ujman, presenting it as a place of rest and implying to citizens that this is a bathing area," the reaction further emphasizes.
The Kosovo Justice Institute has said that failure to comply with the Law on Water and Administrative Instructions "may also imply the liability of public institutions."
"According to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights obliges states not only to refrain from taking life "deliberately", but also to take the necessary measures to protect the lives of persons under their jurisdiction," the response states.
Yesterday afternoon, the lifeless body of a 33-year-old man was found in Lake Ujman, supported in the search by the Kosovo Security Force.
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