Excess of politics, lack of evidence

Excess of politics, lack of evidence

pescanik_ffA state which doesn’t have a war crimes prosecutor for over a year wants to try war crimes indictees from the whole region. A state which doesn’t act on Interpol red notices (Momir Stojanovic, the three wanted members of the Radical party) expects extradition of citizens of other states on the same warrants. A judiciary which has never brought charges for war crimes against any senior official of our country is accusing (without evidence, as we later saw) former and current officials of neighboring countries. A judiciary which hasn’t brought charges for the crimes committed against Kosovo Albanians for three years is seeking the extradition of a Kosovo Albanian to be tried. A state which promised cooperation and assistance to the Special Court for Kosovo hinders it and meddles with its jurisdiction.

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Hindrance to trials for war crimes committed in Kosovo

Hindrance to trials for war crimes committed in Kosovo

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The Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP) has not raised a single indictment for war crimes committed in Kosovo in nearly three years. During this period, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) has filed nine criminal complaints for the crimes committed in Peć, Mala Kruša, Savine vode, Vučitrn, Goden, Kraljani, Landovica, Poklek and Rezale. To date, no investigations have been initiated against those charged.

In reply to the HLC’s urgings with regard to the criminal complaints filed, the OWCP has responded that it is in practice prevented from conducting investigations. The EULEX mission, which was the facilitating entity in the past, has not had since May 2014 the mandate to begin new investigations, as that jurisdiction was transferred to local prosecutors. The OWCP has indicated that the position of the Kosovo Ministry of Justice is such that the Republic of Serbia does not have territorial jurisdiction to investigate crimes which are assumed to have been committed in the territory of Kosovo.

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