Court of Appeals refuses Hysni Gucati parole

KLA Veterans Organisation Chairman Hysni Gucai has been arrested on 25 September in O'O offices VL- KLA, from the Special Prosecutor's Office.

There was a warrant for Gucatin's arrest warrant and a transfer warrant issued by a Special Chambers Court.

He was presented for the first time in the trial hall of Specialised Chambers in The Hague on 1 October this year.

Gucati along with other OVL leaders- The KLA, through media conferences, had stated that an unknown person has brought documents, as they have claimed, are files stemming from the Special Court.

Full Special Notification:

On December 9, 2020, the House of Appeals of Kosovo's Specialised Chambers Court panel issued its first ruling on the intermediate appeal by Hysni Gucatt of the Judge's decision on the legality of his arrest and bail request. In this first decision, the Court of Appeals panel set the standard of intermediate appeals assessment, as well as criteria that should be respected in the appeals procedure.

Applying the above standard, the Court of Appeals completely rejected Gucati's appeal. Although he claimed to speak of arrest was based incorrectly on Article 393 of the Law that defines the competencies of the Pre-Procedure Court following the preamble of an indictment, for the reasons discussed in the decision, the panel deemed that the legal framework of the Specialised Chambers nevertheless confirms the authority of the Single Judge to issue the preamble of an indictment.

The Court of Appeals panel also found that decisions concerning provisional release are within the jurisdictions of the Single Judge and that he did not use his competence when considering conditions proposed by Mr. Gucati in support of his bail request. In the opinion of the panel, Mr. Gucati did not confirm that the Single Judge made a clear mistake in valuing him if Gucati's detention is necessary on the basis of Article 41506.

The panel of the Court of Appeals stressed the importance of the principle of proportionality in the context of maintaining detention in pending trial and found that Gucati's detention continues to be proportional in this early phase of the process.