Constitutional Court

The applicant, the Deputy Chairperson of the Municipal Assembly for Communities in the Municipality of Prizren, filed a referral challenging Article 7 of the Municipal Statute on the Municipal Emblem containing the house of the League of Prizren, the year 1878 and the inscription “Prizren”, thereby alleging that proceedings foreseen under the law have not been respected, and that requests and remarks of communities related to the emblem were not taken into account, and that this emblem does not reflect multi-ethnicity of the Municipality, He claims that constitutional rights of other non-majority communities in the Municipality were violated for equality before law, protection, preservation and development of their identity, that there was violation of the Law on Local Self-Government, and of the Law on Protection and Promotion of Community Rights, The Constitutional Court decided that when the Municipality decided to proclaim the emblem with the house of the Prizren League associated with the year 1878, they promoted Albanian heritage and tradition, without due regard to other communities, thereby violating rights of non-majority communities in Prizren to protect, maintain and promote their identity, Further, the Court decided that the Article 7 of Statute of the Municipality is not compatible with the Constitution, and ordered the Municipality of Prizren to amend it in order to ensure compliance with the Constitution