Live update

On 22 February, a Court of Appeals Panel dismissed both grounds of appeal by Pjetër Shala against the decision of the Pre-Trial Judge on the accused’s motion challenging the form of the indictment.

Please be informed that we will be performing website maintenance on Wednesday, 23 February, from 09:00 until 12:00. During this period you may experience accessibility problems from time to time on some or all parts of our website. Thank you for your understanding.

Another KSC weekly press briefing will take place on Thursday, 17 February, at 14:30. During this briefing, the KSC Spokespersons will provide a short update on the latest developments in the judicial proceedings before the KSC, as well as on other public activities of the Court. Journalists will have the opportunity to ask questions. Pre-registration is required to attend each briefing. To pre-register, please send an email with name and affiliation to [email protected]. Deadline for pre-registration is every Thursday at 12:00. The Zoom details will be shared following pre-registration. Recordings of the update provided during the Weekly Press Briefings will be made available on the KSC YouTube Channel.

The Pre-Trial Judge today granted a request by the Defence to convene a hearing in order to hear submissions from the parties about the issues raised in the SPO filing on handling confidential information and contacts with witnesses. The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday,  22 February, at 14:30.

The Court of Appeals Panel today denied Shala’s appeal against the Pre-Trial Judge’s decision rejecting the Defence motion challenging the jurisdiction of the Specialist Chambers. In another decision, the Court of Appeals Panel dealt with the accused’s appeal against the decision of the Pre-Trial Judge on the review of his detention. The Panel granted one ground of appeal and remanded the matter to the Pre-Trial Judge  in order to, inter alia, seek additional information from the KSC Registrar and invite the Defence to consult with the Belgian authorities about the potential enforcement of the conditions proposed by the accused . Other grounds of appeal are dismissed.

In its latest decision on the conduct of the proceedings, the Trial Panel in the Mustafa case decided to vacate the deadlines imposed in its earlier decision on 21 January. The Defence shall file its motion for dismissal of charge(s) pursuant to Rule 130 by 15 February at 16:00 hours and the Panel  intends to issue its decision on it between 23 and 25 February. The decision with more details is available here.

As announced in our Court Calendar, next status conference in the case against Pjetër Shala is scheduled for 4 March 2022 at 14:30. More details in the scheduling order.

Another KSC weekly press briefing will take place on Thursday, 10 February, at 14:30. During this briefing, the KSC Spokespersons will provide a short update on the latest developments in the judicial proceedings before the KSC, as well as on other public activities of the Court. Journalists will have the opportunity to ask questions. Pre-registration is required to attend each briefing. To pre-register, please send an email with name and affiliation to [email protected]. Deadline for pre-registration is every Thursday at 12:00. The Zoom details will be shared following pre-registration. Recordings of the update provided during the Weekly Press Briefings will be made available on the KSC YouTube Channel.

In its decision filed on 4 February 2022, the Trial Panel in the Mustafa case, having received three expert reports, concluded that the national courts in Kosovo do not provide a realistic avenue for the victims of the crimes charged in this case to claim reparations.  The Panel accordingly decided that, in case of a conviction in the Mustafa case, it will not refer victims to civil litigation in Kosovo courts pursuant to Article 22(9) of the Law and Rule 167 of the Rules, but issue a Reparation Order pursuant to Articles 22(8) and 44(6) of the Law. Furthermore, the Ministry of Justice of Kosovo is ordered to provide the Panel with answers, by 16 March 2022, to a number of questions related to this matter. More details are available in the actual decision.

Today, 4 February, the Specialist Prosecutor’s office closed its case against Salih Mustafa. The notification is here.