Talks aim to ease prison overcrowding as Belgium explores renting facilities abroad.

On Tuesday, the Koha news outlet reported that Kosovo and Belgium are negotiating a possible agreement to transfer inmates from Belgian prisons to Kosovo in an effort to ease overcrowding in Belgium’s correctional system.

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Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani met on Tuesday in Pristina with Belgian Minister of Asylum and Migration Anneleen Van Bossuyt to discuss the potential deal.

Osmani’s press office said only that the meeting covered cooperation in the fields of justice, security, the rule of law, the process of integration into the European Union, and collaboration on security and defense.

The Belgian minister is in Pristina for a three-day working visit and will then travel to Albania to explore similar prisoner transfer agreements and strengthen cooperation in the fight against organized crime.

Belgium is reportedly considering renting or building prisons in other countries to house inmates who are not Belgian nationals.

“The discussions also include mechanisms for the distribution of seized assets, allowing a portion of criminal proceeds recovered in Kosovo or Albania through Belgium-led investigations to be returned to Belgium,” Koha reported.

In 2022, Kosovo signed an agreement with Denmark allowing the Scandinavian country to lease 300 cells in a prison in the Kosovar city of Gjilan starting in 2027 for a period of ten years, at a cost of 210 million euros. Prisoners transferred from Denmark to that facility will be foreign nationals convicted in Denmark, excluding those sentenced for terrorism, war crimes, or those with mental health issues.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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