Kosovo's parliament on Thursday approved a bill to lease part of the country's prison space to Denmark, following a deal to help the Scandinavian country cope with its overcrowded prison system.
Under the agreement, signed in 2022, Danish authorities would send foreigners convicted in Denmark to serve their sentences in Kosovo. Danish citizens would be excluded, as would those convicted of terrorism or war crimes, as well as mentally ill prisoners.
DENMARK TUES TO KOSOVO TO RELIEVE ITS OVERBREAKED PRISON SYSTEM IN $217 MILLION DEAL
Kosovo lawmakers voted 86-7, with no abstentions, in favor of the bill, which grants Denmark the use of 300 cells in the prison in the city of Gjilan, south of the capital Pristina, for 10 years.
Kosovo's parliament has approved a bill to lease part of its prison space to Denmark, to help the Scandinavian country cope with its overcrowded prison system. (Photo by Ferdi Limani/Getty Images)
The bill still needs to be signed by the president of Kosovo to become law. It can be implemented once it is published in the official bulletin.
It was unclear when Denmark, which agreed to pay Kosovo 210 million euros ($227 million) for the use of prison space, would begin sending convicts to Kosovo.
The agreement also stipulates that convicts sent to Kosovo must serve their sentence here under the same conditions as in a prison in Denmark, and in accordance with Denmark's international obligations.
The agreement also provides for the possibility of deporting foreigners directly to their countries of origin once their sentence in Kosovo has ended.
Kosovo authorities have said they will spend Denmark's money on improving the Balkan country's correctional institutions, according to the Justice Ministry, and also on renewable energy projects.
Kosovo lawmakers failed to pass an earlier draft of the bill during a session last week, after which the government offered a new draft. A part of the opposition was not in favor of the previous project, although the reasons were not made public. It needed at least 80 votes in favor, or two-thirds of the 120-seat parliament, to pass.
Denmark's Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard called Thursday's vote in Kosovo's parliament “really good news.”
He said in a statement that sending convicts to Kosovo “will help restore balance to our troubled prison system.”
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“At the same time, it sends a clear signal to foreign criminals that their future does not lie in Denmark and therefore they should not serve time here either,” Hummelgaard added.
A Danish director will run the facility in Kosovo, with the help of local prison staff.
Kosovo's prison system has the capacity to hold up to 2,800 prisoners. It was not immediately possible to determine the current number of unoccupied cells.
