BLIC NEWS, July 11, 2001 ** IN KOSOVO KFOR IS ABOVE THE LAW "The legal system in Kosovo is not independent and it is in a very sad state. Local judges have very low salaries, so corruption is flourishing in the province, while the few international judges are dealing mostly with the cases left over from 1999. The situation is far from satisfactory", says Marek Antonyi Novicki, Ombudsman for human rights in Kosovo, in an interview for Blic News. (...) - What is the job of the ombudsman for human rights in Kosovo and in what way can you help people who are threatened? "Our main task can be brought down to promotion of human rights in Kosovo and assistance to people whose rights have been violated. Our jurisdiction covers the entire system of civil administration. This practically means that the target of our investigations are central authorities, that is UNMIK, but also the newly established local authorities in Kosovar municipalities. The only problem is that military forces in Kosovo (KFOR) are not in our jurisdiction. If we receive a report that KFOR has violated somebody's human rights, unfortunately, we cannot investigate anything. Our jurisdiction covers the whole territory of Kosovo, but we can also work concerning certain problems outside Kosovo. This refers primarily to Serb refugees from Kosovo whose fundamental rights are threatened or Albanian refugees in other countries. This jurisdiction is very limited because we cannot investigate all these cases. What we can do is give the so-called good services by offering our assistance in the procedure that can help families outside Kosovo to find the right solution for their problems". Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/