The Decision of the Press Council of Kosovo on the appeal of Dr.Rrita Berisha Demiri
6 February 2008Dr. Rrita Berisha-Demiri submitted an appeal on 01.12.2007 against the newspapers which had published in November 2007 an announcement of the Ministry of Health regarding the suspension of several physicians due to the suspicion of having committed a false equivalence of the diplomas in a Bulgarian University.
Immediately after this, Dr. Rrita Berisha sent a response to those newspapers explaining that she graduated correctly the University of Prishtina and she had made the equivalence of the diploma in Bulgaria in order to get a job, because during the Milosevic regime the diploma of the University of Prishtina was not acknowledge. She sent this response, although no newspaper mentioned her name.
Her response was published in the newspaper “Lajm”, while “Koha Ditore” published an observation which included main parts of the response of Dr. Rrita Berisha. Other newspapers did not publish her response, whereby they have violated the Article 1 of Chapter IV. However, the representatives of these newspapers, which did not publish the response of Dr. Rrita Berisha Demiri reasoned that her name was not mentioned in the announcement of the Ministry of Health of Kosovo; therefore, they were not obliged to publish the response.
Most of the newspapers on January 24, 2008 published, the decision of the Disciplinary Commission of the Ministry of Health to terminate the suspension for Dr. Rrita Berisha and most of the physicians, after it was established that they had valid diploma to conduct the profession of the physician.
The PCK in its meeting on January 31, 2008, found that the newspapers have acted according to Chapter IV of the Code of Press in Kosovo, by publishing the announcement of the Ministry of Health and the decision of the Disciplinary Commission of the Ministry of Health, whereby a complete clarification was achieved regarding the opinion for this event.
- Kosovo's Press Council’s decision on complaint Hasan Jashari, a lawyer from Pristina, against newspaper "Kosova Sot"
- The Press Council of Kosovo's decision on the complaint of the General Auditor, Lage Olofsson, against the newspaper "Lajm"
- Opinion of the Press Council of Kosovo on the complaint of the German KFOR, Prizren, Uwe Schmelzeis, Lt and Head of Public Relations, against newspaper "Express”
- Adjudication of the Press Council of Kosovo in relation to the complaint of Makfirete Saliuka, Judge at the Municipal Court in Prishtina, versus Kosova Sot newspaper
- Adjudication of Press Council of Kosovo on the complaint of the Information Office of Drenas Municipality against Koha Ditore.