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Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office

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About Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office
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Kosovo

Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office

Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office (KSC & SPO) (Albanian: "Dhoma e Specializuar e Kosovës dhe Zyra e Prokurorit Special") (Serbian: "Косовска специјализована већа и Канцеларија специјалног тужилаштва") is a court of Kosovo, located in The Hague (Netherlands), hosting four Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutors Office, which may perform their activities either at the KRSJI or in Kosovo. Their staff is international, as are the Judges, the Specialist Prosecutor and the Registrar. The court is currently set up for delegating the trials of the crimes committed by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic-Albanian paramilitary organisation which sought the separation of Kosovo from Yugoslavia during the 1990s and the eventual creation of a Greater Albania. The alleged crimes concern the period 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2000, by or against citizens of Kosovo or the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during and at the end of the Kosovo war and directed afterwards against "ethnic minorities and political opponents".

The Kosovo authorities have agreed with the EU on modalities of dealing with those serious allegations. On 3 August 2015, the Kosovo Assembly adopted Article 162 of the Kosovo Constitution and the Law on Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office, following the Exchange of Letters between the President of Kosovo and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in 2014. The Specialist Chambers are attached to each level of the court system in Kosovo – Basic Court, Court of Appeals, Supreme Court and Constitutional Court. They will function according to relevant Kosovo laws as well as customary international law and international human rights law.

They are of temporary nature with a specific mandate and jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, war crimes and other crimes under Kosovo law, in relation to allegations reported in the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Report of 7 January 2011, which were commenced or committed in Kosovo.

Following this Report, the European Union decided to establish a Special Investigative Task Force (SITF) in September 2011 to conduct an independent criminal investigation into the allegations contained in the Report, as well as other crimes connected to those allegations.

In the summer of 2014, the SITF announced that the evidence investigated was of sufficient weight to file an indictment. In order to address these allegations, there had to be an adequate institution for proper judicial proceedings.

The Kosovo authorities have agreed with the EU on modalities of dealing with those serious allegations. On 3 August 2015, the Kosovo Assembly adopted Article 162 of the Kosovo Constitution (https://www.scp-ks.org/en/documents/constitutional-amendment-article-162-3-aug-2015) and the Law on Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office, following the Exchange of Letters between the President of Kosovo and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in 2014. The Specialist Chambers are attached to each level of the court system in Kosovo – Basic Court, Court of Appeals, Supreme Court and Constitutional Court. They will function according to relevant Kosovo laws as well as customary international law and international human rights law.

The court was formally established in 2016 and became operational the following year, on July 5, 2017. It is separate from other Kosovar institutions, and independent.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office were established pursuant to an international agreement ratified by the Kosovo Assembly, a Constitutional Amendment (Article 162, Amendment No. 24) and the Law on Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office.
Sources: https://www.scp-ks.org/en/background,
https://www.scp-ks.org/en and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_Specialist_Chambers

Esteban Rivera, 16 December 2023

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The flag is a white horizontal background with the logo in the middle.

Photo from Euronews (no longer available).
Logo: https://yt3.ggpht.com/ytc/

For additional information go to SCP-KS (official website): https://www.scp-ks.org/en

Esteban Rivera, 16 December 2023