OSCE Mission in Kosovo urges courts to order detention only when warranted

PRISHTINE/PRISTINA, 15 March 2010 - While the courts in Kosovo have made limited improvements in the reasoning of rulings on detention, in a majority of the cases reviewed over a nine-month period judges failed to properly justify decisions imposing detention, thus breaching international legal standards and domestic law, concluded a new OSCE report published today.

According to the report, judges mainly cite three grounds when ordering detention: risk of flight, of tampering with evidence, and of re-offending. However, these grounds are not sufficiently reasoned in the decisions on detention.

"Despite an adequate legal framework on use of detention in criminal proceedings, the rulings on detention issued by the courts very often fail to comply with these legal requirements, and detention is ordered without offering sufficient reasons to prove it necessary," said Markku Laamanen, the Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo. "In addition, detention continues to be frequently ordered when the facts of the case do not warrant such a measure."

The report gives recommendations to the Supreme Court, public prosecutor, judges, Chamber of Advocates, Kosovo Judicial Institute, and to the Faculty of Law of the University of Prishtine/Pristina to address the identified shortcomings.

To help the institutions overcome the challenges outlined in the report and to obtain feedback on its findings, the OSCE Mission will organize roundtable discussions with judges and prosecutors throughout Kosovo.

The new publication complements the first part of the report issued by the OSCE Mission in December 2009 - "The Use of Detention in Criminal Proceedings in Kosovo: Comprehensive Review and Analysis of Residual Concerns (Part I)" - which focused mainly on the prosecution. It is based on direct monitoring and analysis of 125 cases in 2008 involving detention on remand proceedings before the Kosovo municipal and district courts.

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo is mandated with protection and promotion of human rights. As a functioning legal system is instrumental for human rights protection, the OSCE Mission will continue to support judges, prosecutors and lawyers through monitoring of judicial and prosecutorial practices.

The report is available on www.osce.org/kosovo