The Humanitarian Law Centre in Kosovo published its 2016 Annual Report on War Crimes and Ethnically and Politically Motivated Crimes in Kosovo.  The report was presented during a round table discussion, with the participation of the Minister of Justice, the British Ambassador to Kosovo, the Head of SPRK, and the Kosovo Judicial Council. The Head of EULEX’s Executive Division, Judge Katja Dominik, represented the Mission at the gathering. 

During opening remarks, Ms Dominik focused on EULEX contributions to war crimes cases.  “I would like to highlight that since its deployment in 2008 to date, EULEX has adjudicated 38 war crimes cases from the investigation to the final court stage. The process has proven long and difficult.  As we all know, witness testimony is very fragile, not only because witnesses often suffer traumatic experiences but they are vulnerable to intimidations and threats.” said Dominik.  She explained further that due to the change in the mandate of EULEX since 2014, the prosecution of war crimes and post-war crimes has and will progressively become a task for the local judiciary.  “We are currently preparing to transfer all cases by June 2018.  We are committed to ensuring that this transfer is done properly and does not result in violations of the rights of witnesses and victims”, she emphasized. 

Following the opening remarks, the panelists discussed the findings and the challenges regarding war crime trials and the way forward to increase capacities and regional cooperation in the judiciary.  Present at the discussions were also Acting President of EULEX Judges, Elka Ermenkova, Valeria Bolici, SPRK prosecutor and Edward Gold from the EULEX War Crime Investigation Unit.  

During the panel discussion, Valeria Bolici highlighted the narrowing of EULEX’s mandate and explained that enhancing judicial cooperation in this region is indispensable to bring defendants to justice and justice to victims.  She added that it is crucial to ensure that the evidence collected by EULEX investigators and prosecutors will be allowed to be used in future trials. Amendments to the current evidentiary regime regulating pre-trial witness statements would significantly help in ensuring that the passing of time does not negatively affect the preservation of evidence. Bolici concluded that in the shorter term, the way forward includes a more decisive reliance on both legal categories and prosecutorial strategies used in the experience of international criminal tribunals.