Category: Reports Organizations: HLC Tags:
Within the regular activities of the “Monitoring Conflict Related Crime Trials in Kosovo and the Inclusion of the Youth in the Justice Sector” project, in the second half of February 2020, the Humanitarian Law Center in Kosovo (HLCK) finished drafting its planned yearly report on the most significant trials monitored during past year, titled “War Crimes Trials - Still at The Beginning”.
During March, the report was translated to all official languages and prepared for printing. A roundtable was planned for late March where the report would have been presented to the public. This is the usual practice of the HLCK when publishing its annual trial monitoring reports. The planned discussion topic was “Trials in Absentia: Breakthrough or Stagnation?” All preparations for the roundtable were made in the first half of March, including the confirmation of speakers. Sadly, we were forced to postpone the event due to the inability of organizing public events during the Coronavirus pandemic.
The report itself includes an analysis of trials monitored by HLCK monitors during 2019. In addition, we have analyzed the results of attempts by the Kosovo judicial institutions to prosecute war crimes. We have also included recommendations for the country’s judicial institutions, should they be interested in overcoming the major issues faced by the Kosovo judiciary and achieve the best possible results in prosecuting war crimes in the coming period – this based on our experience both as monitors of war crimes trials over many years and the HLC’s wider experience in monitoring war crimes in the Western Balkan region.
