6 hours agoWar crimes sentences, differences between courts in Kosovo, Special Court
Periskopi(a year ago)
(a year ago)Lawyers in Kosovo are demanding that the former Yugoslavia penal code not be implemented in war crimes cases. They say this practice must be changed, since in Kosovo's Specialised Chambers, war crimes sentences are not based on this law and are higher. Days ago, the Constitutional Court in Pristina declared another [...]
Days ago, the Constitutional Court in Pristina also declared a condemned act of war crimes against Zoran Vukotic.
However, the sentence pronounced for the 1999 killing of a 14-year-old was 15 years, followed. Periscope.
“Laws of the former Yugoslav Federation criminal Republic, anaday courts based on LPJ articles and criminal procedure code... “
This is not the only case that courts in Kosovo pronounce sentences for so many years, which is the highest to envision the Former Yugoslavia Criminal Code, on which the courts of Kosovo are based because it has been in force when criminal acts are committed.
This practice, according to lawyers, should be changed.
“Legislation in Kosovo or the remaining framework of the past or the law applied in Kosovo, which is based on the legislation of the former Yugoslavia from the past I think must change the little legal framework that has remained, and the Republic of Kosovo in the absence of adequate legislation then is obliged to limit its courts to the extent of the penal sanctions.”, Musa Damattit lawyer has declared.
However, such a code does not apply even specialised chamber judges for Kosovo, which according to lawyers, are making legal violations.
“This legal obligation is described as also Article 15 for the law of specialised rooms where unfortunately specialised chambers for Kosovo, which are managed or led by international staff, by international judges in a completely non- principled manner are not implementing Article 15.”, stated Jevdet Smacqi lawyer.
The “is in complete opposition to the principle of legality, which is also the cornerstone of criminal law, which envisions that the sentence pronounced for a criminal offence cannot be harsher than it has been defined by law at the time of the conduct of criminal acts, which means it cannot be overlooked this law and implement the Kosovo penal code.”, Mesari Selimaj lawyer noted.
For war crimes, Kosovo's Specialised Chambers sentenced Salih Mustaf to 26 years in prison, but that his sentence had been reduced to 15 years. Payer Shala was also sentenced by the war crimes specialist to 18 years in prison. /Dukagini/
