HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1031119573427&p=1012571727166 Financial Times September 23, 2002 Report says Kosovo courts bungle war trials By Eric Jansson in Belgrade -All the reversals resulted in the freeing of ethnic Serbs who had faced long prison terms, up to 20 years. A report on war crimes trials conducted in Kosovo paints a picture of "meagre" jurisprudence and ethnically-tainted verdicts so at odds with international standards that international judges are often despatched to wrest control from local prosecutors. Bungling behind the bench takes place in low-level courts but also in Kosovo's Supreme Court, according to the report published by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Monday. Of the eleven guilty verdicts rendered in war crimes cases by Kosovo's Supreme Court since 1999, when Yugoslav control over the province collapsed and the United Nations set up a temporary regime, international judges have intervened to reverse eight of them. All the reversals resulted in the freeing of ethnic Serbs who had faced long prison terms, up to 20 years. While prosecutors based at the Hague for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia may pursue war crimes cases in Kosovo, so may local courts. The OSCE report's authors deride the Supreme Court for issuing war crimes decisions "characterised by brevity (the average length of decisions is three to four pages), poor legal reasoning, absence of citations to legal authority, and lack of interpretation concerning the applicable law on war crimes and human rights issues". They also echo a complaint registered earlier this year by the international community's ombudsman in the majority Albanian province, that the courts make public too little information about their proceedings. "Public information about the manner in which these trials have been conducted and about the verdicts has so far been scarce and inconsistent, leaving both the public and most part of the local and international legal community with an incomplete image of the materials and processes of these cases," the report reads. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
