The Basic Prosecutor’s Office in Kosovo’s capital, Prishtina, has announced that the director of VisaMetric in the country has been detained over the suspicion of committing the criminal offence of “non-enforcement of court decisions”.
Announcing the news, the Prosecutor’s Office said that the defendant S.O., who is a Turkish citizen, will be kept in detention for 48 hours, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The Prosecutor’s Office has also already submitted a request for the imposition of pre-trial detention against the director of VisaMetric, meaning that he will be subject to other measures too.
The citizen of Türkiye who leads VisaMetric in Kosovo is suspected of disregarding the decision of the Commercial Court, which prohibited charging citizens €30 for the postal service of passport delivery.
For this reason, he will now be kept in detention, and the authorities are expected to come out with a final decision on the matter once the investigation is over.
“The Basic Prosecutor’s Office in Pristina informs the public that, as part of the investigative actions related to the ‘VisaMetric’ case, the State Prosecutor, after receiving a statement from the defendant S.O., a Turkish citizen and director of this company, has issued a 48-hour detention order against him due to the criminal offence of ‘Non-enforcement of court decisions’,” the statement of the Prosecutor’s Office reads.
In addition to the above-mentioned, the Prosecutor’s Office further said that the authorities would take further action, highlighting that they will ensure that the investigation will not be closed without reaching a decision.
“We inform you that within the legal deadline, the prosecutor handling the case will take further legal actions against the defendant until we announce that investigations regarding this criminal case are ongoing until its final conclusion,” the Prosecutor’s Office stated.
The decision to detain the director of VisaMetric in Kosovo comes not long after the latter refused to implement the decision of the Commercial Court of Kosovo.
Kosovo’s Commerical Court prohibited VisaMetric from requiring applicants to pay a postal service fee of €30 earlier this month.
The news was announced by Flamur Abdullahu, a lawyer, who gave the proposal that such measures get taken against VisaMetric.
Abdullahu said that the obligation to pay for the postal service is one of the many abuse cases, and the same emphasised that such a requirement is in violation of the Law on Consumer Protection.
Currently, all citizens of Kosovo need to obtain a visa in order to be permitted entry into the European Union/Schengen Area.
>> Kosovars Travelling to Europe – EU Entry Requirements for Kosovan Citizens
Nonetheless, the visa requirement will not apply for much longer as the Parliament of the EU has given the green light on visa-free travel with Kosovo. Starting next year, citizens of Kosovo will be able to travel to the bloc for up to 90 days within any 180-day period without a visa.