War Crimes Trials – Still at the Beginnig
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HLC Kosovo annual report 2019 WAR CRIMES TRIALS – STILL AT THE BEGINNIG CONTENT List of Acronyms .......................................................................................................323 FOREWORD ............................................................................................................325 War Crimes against the Civilian Population ..............................................................333 1.1. Preliminary procedure .......................................................................................335 1.1.1. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Miloš Petković ...............................................335 1.1.2. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Shemsi Garaj .................................................340 1.1.3. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Zlatan Krstić .................................................344 1.1.4. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Destan Shabanaj ...........................................348 1.1.5. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Goran Stanišić ...............................................353 1.1.6. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Ramiz Džogović ............................................356 1.2. The fisrt instace proceedings ............................................................................361 1.2.1. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Darko Tasić ..................................................365 1.2.2. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Zoran Đokić .................................................376 1.2.3. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Nenad Arsić ..................................................384 1.3. Apellate proceedings .........................................................................................384 1.3.1. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Zoran Vukotić (Vukotić 1) ..........................384 1.3.2. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Zoran Vukotić (Vukotić 2) ..........................396 1.3.3. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Milorad Zajić ...............................................402 1.3.4. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Remzi Shala .................................................412 1.4. Extraordinary legal remedies ...........................................................................425 1.4.1. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Skender Bislimi ............................................425 Cases pertaining to war crimes, ethnically and politically motivated crimes .....439 2.1. Fisrt instace trails ..............................................................................................441 2.1.1. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Nedeljko Spasojević et alia ..........................441 2.1.2. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Emrush Thaqi et al. .....................................451 2.1.3. The Case: The Prosecutor v. Ivan Todosijević ...........................................458 The HLC Kosovo’s recommendations for the 2019 Annual Report ...................470 List of Acronyms: CC SFRY – The Criminal Code of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia which came into force in 1977, which was deemed applicable according to UNMIK regulation 1999/24 of December 12th, 1999. According to this regulation, “the law applicable in Kosovo shall be the law in force on Kosovo on March 22th, 1989” or laws in force before the amendments to the Yugoslav Constitution in 1989; CCRP – Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo, which came into force on Jan- uary 1st, 2013, as well as Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo, which came into force on April 14, 2019; CPCRK – The Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Kosovo, which came into force on January 1st, 2013; EULEX – The European Union Mission for the Rule of Law in Kosovo; FDJ – Freedom, Democracy, Justice; FRY – Fedaral Republic of Yugoslavia; HLC Kosovo – Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo; ICTY – International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia; KFOR – Kosovo Force, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, (NATO) peace- keeping force which has been in Kosovo since June 12th, 1999; KLA – Kosovo Liberation Army; KP – Kosovo Police; LDK – Democratic League of Kosovo MIA – Ministry of Internal Affairs; NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization PPS – Criminal complaint of the Special Prosecution (The acronym in English is identical to the one in Albanian. The international mission in Kosovo uses the Albanian acronym, because the case registry in Kosovo is done in Albanian); SCID – Serious Crime Investigation Directorate; SPRK – The Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo; UNMIK – United Nations Mision in Kosovo; WCIU – War Crimes Investigation Unit WAR CRIMES TRIALS – STILL AT THE BEGINNIG 323 FOREWORD Within the project “Monitoring Conflict Related Crime Trails in Kosovo and the Inclusion of the Youth in the Justice Sector“, the Humanitarian Law Center Koso- vo (HLC Kosovo) continued to regularly monitor war crimes trials organised in Kosovo courts throughout 2019. During the reporting period, some trials that were related to the events that took place during the armed conflict in Kosovo were also monitored (The Prosecutor v. Ivan Todosijević) as well as those that were politically related (The Prosecutor v. Nedeljko Spasojević). In addition to the regular monitoring of court proceedings, an analysis of the monitored trials and related court records was also carried out. It was possible to implement the whole project due to the access to court records as a result of a successful cooperation with the Kosovo Judicial Council. During the reporting period, the HLC Kosovo and the Kosovo Judicial Council extended their memo- randum of cooperation for another two years. Access to court records allowed the HLC Kosovo to conduct a professional analysis of the criminal proceedings that took place during the reporting period. Project activities During the reporting period (January 1 - December 31, 2019), the HLC Kosovo monitors[1] were active in 40 court sessions in six (6) criminal cases on charges of War Crimes against the Civilian Population, as well as in one (1) case related to war crimes trials (some of the Defendants in a war crimes case were charged with the escape from the Prishtinë/Priština Clinical Centre where they were hos- pitalised while the criminal proceedings were ongoing). During the reporting pe- riod, the main trial in the case on charges of inciting national, racial or religious hatred, discord and intolerance was also monitored. This case was related to the events that occurred during the armed conflict. Moreover, some sessions held be- fore Pre-Trial Judges on Prosecution’s applications for detention on remand were monitored in relation to the suspects who were arrested because of a grounded suspicion that they had committed the criminal offence of War Crimes against the Civilian Population. The report covers the analyses of the criminal proceedings conducted, during the reporting period, before the courts of first instance, mainly before the Special Department of the Basic Court of Prishtinë/Priština, as well as the analyses of the [1] During the reporting period, the trials were monitored by HLC Kosovo monitors, as well as by a group of students from the Law Faculty of the Public University of Prishtinë/Priština and some private colleges with which the HLC Kosovo signed a cooperation agreement. A group of nine (9) students prepared a total of eighty-two (82) daily trial reports. WAR CRIMES TRIALS – STILL AT THE BEGINNIG 325 main trials that began in the previous years before the Serious Crimes Depart- ments of the Basic Courts of Prizren and Pejë/Peć. War Crimes Trials 1. Preliminary procedure During the reporting period, several sessions were monitored that were held in ac- cordance with the SPRK’s application for detention on remand against the persons arrested during the year mainly at the Kosovo border crossings with Serbia due to a grounded suspicion that during the armed conflict in Kosovo, 1998-1999, they had committed the criminal offence of War Crimes against the Civilian Population. In 2019, at the request of the SPRK, six (6) persons were apprehended at the Jarinje and Brnjak border crossings, against whom the measure of detention on remand was ordered following the detention hearings held by the Special De- partment of the Basic Court of Prishtinë/Priština. The cases were as follows: The Prosecutor v. Zoran Đokić, The Prosecutor v. Shemsi Garaj, The Prosecutor v. Zlatan Krstić, The Prosecutor v. Destan Shabanaj, The Prosecutor v. Goran Stanišić, The Prosecutor v. Ramiz Džogović, The Prosecutor v. Nenad Arsić and The Prosecutor v. Miloš Petković who was extradited from Hungary in accordance with an interna- tional arrest warrant. In the rulings of the Pre-Trial Judges of the Special Depart- ment of the Basic Court of Prishtinë/Priština, detention on remand was ordered against the foregoing suspects, while in the rulings issues by SPRK Prosecutors, an official investigation was initiated against them due to a grounded suspicion that they had committed the criminal offence of War Crimes against the Civilian Population with the exception of the suspect Petković. The investigation against him was originally launched on May 31, 2012, then terminated as he was unavail- able to the Kosovo judicial authorities, and then reopened after his extradition. In some of the above listed cases, the investigation was suspended after certain in- vestigative actions had been conducted and evidence obtained. In The Prosecutor v. Miloš Petković case, after certain investigative actions had been taken (hearing of in- dividual witnesses and obtaining other evidence), the Prosecutor, due to the lack of evidence, withdrew