The OSCE Mission in Kosovo published on Wednesday the \u201cReport on the Monitoring of War Crimes Trials in Kosovo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Gerard McGurk, said that the report reflects seven years of systematic monitoring of war crimes trials in Kosovo and presents findings from 48 war crimes cases tried before the Special Department of the Basic Court in Pristina, KosovaPress reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe period covered by the report is also significant, as it reflects the transition of this more demanding form of trials from international hybrid mechanisms to domestic institutions. The transfer of cases from EULEX, as well as the introduction of trials in absentia, were some of the new developments. Seventeen cases have reached final judgments.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The consolidation of the role of institutions in war crimes trials is also, in itself, an achievement. The final recommendations aim to support ongoing efforts to strengthen the administration of justice in line with international standards.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The report also notes that during the reporting period, the number of war crimes proceedings increased and that these cases presented practical challenges for judges, prosecutors, and defence lawyers.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The identified challenges include delays, concerns regarding the quality and individualisation of some indictments, evidentiary challenges, problems with the disclosure of evidence and translation, as well as proceedings conducted in absentia.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Monitoring data has shown that one in five hearings were postponed due to the absence of witnesses. Nearly a quarter of cases that reached trial were affected by changes in the judicial panel, and proceedings sometimes had to restart from the beginning.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Delayed disclosure or delays in translation prolonged half of these cases. These issues are not merely technical, but go to the heart of fair trial proceedings and affect public trust,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, Acting Deputy Minister of Justice Genc Nimoni praised the OSCE\u2019s years-long work, adding that addressing war crimes has also been a priority for the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The President of the Supreme Court, Fejzullah Rexhepi, said that not enough has been done to bring perpetrators of war crimes before justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rexhepi said that thousands of witnesses have died without ever being questioned, while, according to him, there are also cases where thousands of others testified but their testimonies were not properly documented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, Acting Chief State Prosecutor Agron Qalaj said that handling war crimes cases represents one of the most sensitive and challenging areas of criminal justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The OSCE Mission in Kosovo published on Wednesday the \u201cReport on the Monitoring of War Crimes Trials in Kosovo.\u201d The Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Gerard McGurk, said that the report reflects seven years of systematic monitoring of war crimes trials in Kosovo and presents findings from 48 war crimes cases tried before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":84715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[301,296],"tags":[8487,522,440],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84714"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84716,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84714\/revisions\/84716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kosovapress.com\/eng\/admin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}