Pasic: Amendments to Law on Specialist Chambers have no legal effect on proceedings in The Hague

Lawyer Dragan Pasic said that the amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers, adopted yesterday in the first reading by the Kosovo Assembly, could not have any legal effect on judicial proceedings in The Hague even if they were to enter into force following a second reading.

“The amendments to the law were adopted in principle and passed the first reading. The second reading follows, when the details and each individual article are debated, but the period between the first and second readings must be at least 72 hours. There is little chance that these amendments will be adopted and become law. However, even if that happens, it would amount to legal arbitrariness. The adoption of these amendments would have no effect whatsoever on the institutions based in The Hague,” Pasic told Kosovo Online.

He explained that amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers could not affect any ongoing judicial proceedings before the Court in The Hague either.

“No amendments to the law can affect an already established hybrid court—an international hybrid court. I call it hybrid because it was established in The Hague while formally constituting part of Kosovo’s judicial system. Only when the Council of Europe gives its consent and submits a report stating that the work of the Court, that is, the Specialist Chambers, has been completed can the judicial institutions relocated to The Hague be abolished. Until then, any unilateral action by Kosovo institutions, Kosovo authorities, Kosovo politicians or the Assembly of the so-called Kosovo will have no effect. It will serve only a domestic political purpose and constitute political pressure rather than a legal procedure,” Pasic said.

In this regard, he recalled that the basis for establishing those institutions lay in international treaties and agreements between the European Union and Kosovo.

“Therefore, the unilateral adoption of legislation constitutes conduct that primarily harms Kosovo and its institutions, while having no effect on the work of the Trial Panel, which has completed its proceedings. Proceedings before the Kosovo Court of Appeals will follow, and if the case reaches a third or fourth level, jurisdiction will lie with a panel of the Supreme Court and subsequently with a special chamber of the Constitutional Court,” Pasic explained.

For the amendments to be adopted in the second reading, the President of Kosovo must be elected by midnight today so that the current parliamentary legislature remains in office. If the amendments to the Law on the Specialist Chambers enter into force, Pasic expects a strong response from the European Union.

“I expect the European Union to react strongly by warning Pristina that such a course of action is not possible, because they committed themselves under the 2015 agreement to ensuring that these institutions operate outside Kosovo, irrespective of the fact that, formally and legally, they form part of Kosovo’s judicial system. They were established precisely to ensure impartial trials, protect witnesses and enable all the institutions to operate without obstruction. By that, I mean both the Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, which conducted the investigation and filed the indictment, and the Specialist Chambers,” Pasic concluded.