Experts warn: Courts in Lack of War Crimes Making Kosovo Can Set precedents in region

Kosovo has declared its first act in absentia at the end of last year for war crimes, where Cedomir Akek was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Meanwhile, last week has been declared the first act of contempt for sexual rape, where the Constitutional Court in Pristina has sentenced them to 15 years in prison Ivica Rajkovic and Dragan Deniz for this war crime.

However, these cases could also be concluded before the European Court of Human Rights, says Bekim Blakaj of the Fund for Humanitarian Law.

Until the convict holds no prison, he stresses that judgment in absentia is not enough.

There's a lot of defects in lack. In the first place is not the presence of the accused, the other issue is that according to certain international standards allowed to be tried in absentia, but in very specific cases, and it is not recommended at all that the judges in absence become a rule, as is now happening in Kosovo. They may be unfair judgments even when I say this I serve more with Croatia's experience, because Croatia has implemented judgments in absence for years, but many cases have been then sent to the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg and those judgments have seen this court as illegal. And it can very easily happen in a future when Kosovo becomes part of the Council of Europe for such cases to end before this court and then these judgments to be broken”, Blakaj says.

The first missing trial began in November 2023 at the Special Department of the Foundation Court.

If the accused is arrested, Blakaj says he may seek retrial and the case will turn to zero point.

The original “probably literally the victims' families or victims themselves have some kind of satistrophy that someone has been convicted of crime against them. In time, however, it is not enough, especially the case where the convicted in absentia is not arrested and holds a day's imprisonment, and then it turns into another kind of pain for the victims' families. And in the best case we're assuming that someone who has been sentenced to an all-powerful act in absence has been arrested, then he automatically has the right to seek retrial. So the judgment will be turned into the initial phase and yet these victims will be invited to give out their statement and it's kind of a process which is pretty painful”, he adds.

Such situations also mention Flamur Kabashi from the Kosovo Institute for Justice (IKD), which says they are regulated on the basis of trial in absentia.

The “is more understood as a satellite to damaged parties, as a court process that the damaged parties already have in the hands of a court ruling that has declared someone guilty and recognises the right to request judicial property, rather than actually a sentence pronounced on the accused person. A person doesn't go to the suffering of punishment. You don't have anyone here to punish him. So it's more of a satisfare for the damaged side. However, if the person is caught in a firm - form decision, the person has the right and guarantees all legal, local but international guarantees that presuppose judgment in the absence of the same applying for reevaluation and resumption of the” judicial process, he declares.

With changes to the Penal Procedure Code, judgment is presented in absentia.

The lack of judgment can only be prosecuted after five invitations are sent to the current state, and announced in search of investigation into criminal proceedings for at least six months in the official newspaper.

Over 13 thousand civilians have been killed in the recent Kosovo war, over 20 thousand sexually violated women and men, over six thousand missing, of them 1,600 continue to be found and more than 800 thousand displaced people during 1998 1999. But Serbia continues to deny all these crimes committed in Kosovo./Periscopi/