2 August, 2019

Also attending the workshop were the Presidents of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals – who played key roles in moderating the workshop –as well the judges who were recently appointed to the Special Departments within the Basic Court of Pristina and Court of Appeals. Representatives of EU Office were present as well.

The workshop focused on how best to get the Special Departments functioning and running. It did this by looking into issues such as handling cases being returned from upper-instance courts, managing the case-allocation system, the composition of trial panels and general administration, as well as the application of legal provisions that are specific to the Special Departments.

EULEX commended the work of the local institutions in getting the Special Departments up and running quickly and effectively and underlined its commitment to continually support the Special Departments in the time ahead in resolving any problems that may arise in the efforts to make them fully functional. The Mission highlighted that such potential issues would need to be solved quickly to safeguard the impartiality and integrity of the judiciary and ensure it functions smoothly and effectively.

The participants of the workshop developed a handful of recommendations to guide their work in the time ahead, such as ensuring that the case allocation system and the composition of trial panels are in line with European best practices.