DW: How does the Kosovo Special Court operate in The Hague?

The second week of January 2019 could also be a typical week for staff of the Specialised Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kosovo displaced in The Hague, as if numerous Kosovo media had not taken the path of Saturnstraat in the coastal town of the Netherlands. In the 9th building of this street, some of the prosecutor's 60 investigators interviewed two former KLA commanders, Rustem Mustaf and Sami Lushtaku. Their public defence invitations also brought media cameras.

People are interviewed every day. This is prosecutorial work” says office spokesman Christopher Bennett in an interview for Deutche Welle. He further explains, that he cannot even confirm if he is asked who is interviewed, as they are obliged to protect the identity of persons interviewed. Former Balkan War-based journalist, currently judicial official, says the personnel in this office have been added to 60 investigative professionals.

Number of investigators up to 75

That number, according to Bennett, will continue to grow to its full capacity of 75 people. Special investigators in their mandate should work solely on crimes related to Dick Marty's report, where, among other things, “The crimes of Serbian forces are documented, denounced and judged as possible”. He continued to explain that the Kosovo prosecution has been cooperative with them. Bennett refuses to answer the question of whether there will be co-operation in the opposite direction, if one of the special investigators identifies a crime that does not relate to Dick Marty's report would this Kosovo prosecutor be handed over? “is a very hypothetical question”, he says.

The Slovenian national Briton who now works for Kosovo judicial institutions explains that chief prosecutor Allan Tiger is working on drafting the charges. It shows that Tiger has worked for the Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the indictment of Mladic and Millosevic.

Five Conditions to Establish Actuals

According to the prosecutor's office, the charges will be raised when they meet these conditions: evidence to be acceptable to the special court; evidence will be available at the time of trial; evidence will be sufficient to prove, beyond reasonable suspicion, any crime of any accused person; that the case will survive an intelligent and well informed defense; that the case will result in penalties that will be passed on.

So far this team and many other investigators who have worked on cases presented in Dick Marty's 2011 report have failed to meet the terms even for a single indictment, so this internationalised Kosovo court body still remains without producing any visible results for the public.

A team of 170 people and 44m euros annually

In The Hague City, except prosecutors and investigators, there are also a large number of people working under the tribunal, registry and defence advisers and victims. The registry does administrative support of the court and prosecution. Over 100 people work in this section, along with the prosecution, to the number of 170 international employees paid by the European Union and the US and supported by additional donations from Norway, Turkey and Switzerland.

The two-year budget of this mission is 86m euros, which is equivalent to approximately the eight-year budget of the Kosovo Prosecutor, which is under international control and must have results in fighting corruption in Kosovo.

Angela Greep, a German with work experience in Kosovo's EU institutions and a good connoisseur of the region, works as the leader of the media sector and communication. She's over a year's work at this institution regularly travels to Kosovo, where she works with a number of NGOs to explain the work of the court. She boasts the first report and the tribunal's website explaining the overall work. One of its works is the poll with Kosovo citizens about this institution. She declared some of the results in the conversation with Deutsche Welle.

Albanian Court More Supports Serbians

According to this survey conducted in May-June 2018, 61 percent of citizens support the work of the Kosovo Special Court to some extent. Most of them are Albanians, while among Serbs, support is only 26 percent. Among those who do not support the court, 35 percent believe that the court will make unilateral decisions, 25 percent do not support it because they think the court will not condemn all criminals, and 24 percent do not support it because they believe it is an international game. In general, the poll shows a distrust of Serbs in this institution, who do not expect results from the process. Only 2 per cent of Serbs believe that the process will have a legitimate result, compared to 51 per cent of Albanians with that opinion.

One thing that has been raised as problematic even during the war crimes Tribunal process in the former Yugoslavia is witness protection. Only 2 percent of Serbs think, it'll be okay. For this Grieep indicates that the court has already taken steps in this direction, but she is reluctant to give details due to the sensitivity of the process. Griep distributes the leaflet, explaining that witness protection will be done with “transmission cuts and total hiding of evidence from the public”.

Up to Work

The prosecution has failed to file any charges, despite about 700 thousand pages of material gathered by UNMIK, EULEX, Kosovo Prosecutor Dick Marty and many other actors. But as Bennett puts it, work continues, and interviews are conducted all the time. The court's part of the court has established rules of the procedure and has worked on public communication, as well as “security organisation and supporting judicial activities, offering court services translations, witness protection, victims participation, arrest services and judicial co-operation”. The Ombudsperson, who will deal with complaints of violations of the rights of the accused, victims, or anyone who has work with the institution, has also been established in this unique court in the world.