United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT

Press Briefing Notes, 8 July 2003

UNMIK Spokesperson Izabella Karlowicz,
KFOR Spokesperson Gary Bannister Green
UNMIK Police Spokesperson Barry Fletcher
OSCE Spokesperson Sven Lindholm
EU Spokeswoman Monique De Groot

Legal Advisor Mr. Alexander Borg-Olivier

Drafting History of the Codes

· Kosovo legal experts on the Joint Advisory Council on Legislative Matters took the lead in preparing the Codes in August 1999, on an initiative of former SRSG Bernard Kouchner.

· The Codes represent the culmination of over three years of work

· We would like to note, in particular, the outstanding contributions to the Codes made by two Kosovo legal experts, Professor Ismet Salihu and Professor Ejup Sahiti, the Council of Europe and the Office of Legal Affairs in United Nations Headquarters during this process. These individuals and offices played a substantial role in drafting and providing legal expertise on the Codes, and we are deeply grateful to them for their contributions.

· In addition, we would also like to acknowledge the contributions made by a number of legal experts and non-governmental organizations from Kosovo and the international community who participated in the consultative process and whose comments were taken fully into account by the Office of The Legal Adviser in reviewing and revising the Codes. This includes individuals and agencies who commented not only on the Codes but also on the various UNMIK Regulations which have now been incorporated in the Codes.

· We would like to thank the following persons and organizations from Kosovo:

Kosovo legal experts on the Joint Advisory Council of Legislative Matters
Kosovo judges and prosecutors
Kosovo Bar Association
Kosovo Judges’ Association
Kosovo Jurists’ Association
Kosovo Law Center
Kosovo Judicial Institute
NORMA, the Association of Women Lawyers
Center for Protection of Women and Children
Council for Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms

· We would like to thank the following persons and organizations from the international community

Pillar I, including the Office of the DSRSG, Mr. Jean-Christian Cady, the Police Commissioner’s Office, the Department of Justice and the international judges and prosecutors.
Pillar III (OSCE)
American Bar Association Central and Eastern European Law Initiative for its expert inputs and logistical support
UNICEF
UNIFEM
UNHCR
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Inter-Pillar Working Group on Human Rights
Norwegian Refugee Council
Open Society Institute
Article 19

· The process has been lengthy and I may not have mentioned every single person or organization who has made an input but we are, of course, very grateful to everyone has contributed.

· The Joint Advisory Council on Legislative Matters formally submitted the first complete drafts to The Legal Adviser of UNMIK, in November 2001. From this point, the Office of The Legal Adviser took the principal role in reviewing the text and coordinating action on the Codes.

The Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations in New York, the Kosovo drafters, the Council of Europe and Pillar I of UNMIK were closely consulted.

In April and May 2003, the Government and the Assembly of Kosovo were consulted and indicated their general approval of the Codes with a few suggested changes.

· The UNHQ(NY) finally provided clearance for promulgation on 3 July 2003.

General comments

· The new Codes will bring criminal law in Kosovo into greater conformity with international and European standards.

· In drafting the Codes, the applicable criminal law was taken as the starting-point. Many of the provisions in the applicable law have been maintained without change.

· At the same time, important modifications have been introduced in the Codes taking into account:

Criminal law reforms, in particular, in Slovenia, Croatia and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and elsewhere in the region.

Modern principles of international law and, in particular, international human rights law.

· The Codes will clarify the full range of criminal law applicable in Kosovo in two comprehensive legislative texts. Various UNMIK Regulations and Administrative Directions have been incorporated in the texts where appropriate. This should facilitate the work of judges, prosecutors and other legal practitioners.

Provisional Criminal Code of Kosovo

· The main changes:

Incorporate criminal offences defined in UNMIK Regulations such as the regulations on terrorism and on trafficking in persons.
Incorporate criminal offences defined in international conventions, including the Statute for the International Criminal Court, the Convention Against Torture and international and regional conventions relating to terrorism, organized crime and corruption.
Generally clarify and modernize definition of criminal offences.

· For example:

The chapter on Criminal Offences Against International Law has modified the definitions of war crimes to reflect the crimes set forth in the Statute of the International Criminal Court which entered into force in July 2002 and introduced new offences such as crimes against humanity and smuggling of migrants.

The chapter on Sexual Offences has been substantially revised to take account of the most recent developments in criminal legislation in this area.

The chapter on Punishments introduces significant reforms to broaden the regime of alternative punishments such as imposing a suspended sentence with an order for community service.

Provisional Criminal Procedure Code of Kosovo

· The reforms introduced by the Provisional Criminal Procedure Code of Kosovo have three major aims:

To strengthen powers of prosecutors.

To enhance the protection of defendants and injured parties.

To enhance effectiveness of the administration of justice in Kosovo.

· The following changes have been made in the Criminal Procedure Code to strengthen prosecutorial capacity.

The public prosecutor will have the authority to open, conduct and supervise investigations. Under the current system, investigations are conducted by the investigating judge.

The investigating judge will be replaced by a pre-trial judge whose primary function will be to determine whether persons should be detained, searched or subject to other restrictions of their rights.

The Criminal Procedure Code incorporates three significant UNMIK Regulations relating to injured parties and witnesses, cooperative witnesses and covert and technical measures of surveillance and investigation.

· Other important changes and innovations have been made to protect defendants and injured parties. For example:

Defence counsel will be appointed at public expense in a wider range of circumstances than envisaged under the current applicable law.

The UNMIK Regulation on the Rights of Persons Arrested by Law Enforcement Authorities, including the right to defence counsel, has been incorporated and will apply throughout detention.

Judicial supervision of detention has been strengthened. A procedure has been introduced which allows a detainee or his or her defence counsel to petition a judge at any time to determine the lawfulness of his or her detention.

Recognizing that pre-trial detention should be ordered only when it is strictly necessary, the Criminal Procedure Code now provides for house arrest and other measures as alternatives to pre-trial detention.

A new chapter (Chapter VII) has been added to address the protection of injured parties during criminal proceedings.

The public prosecutor may refer a case involving less than three years of imprisonment to mediation.

Entry into force

· The Regulations promulgating the Codes were signed on 6 July 2003, but the date for the effective implementation of the Codes will be on 6 April 2004.

· This period will allow for the training of legal professionals, a public information campaign and the necessary organizational restructuring of the judicial system.

UNMIK Spokesperson Izabella Karlowicz

The SRSG Michael Steiner has left the Mission today to take up his post as German Ambassador to the UN in Geneva. Yesterday he paid a farewell visit to Kosovo leaders – President Rugova, PM Rexhepi, Assembly President Daci and PDK leader Thaçi.

DEBELDE ISSUE

Debelde border crossing has been opened today

- This is only a temporary arrangement – facilitation

- The agreement has no legal validity after the end of UNMIK’s mandate in
Kosovo. This is clearly specified in the protocol itself.

- It has no bearing whatsoever on the demarcation of the border – it is not related to that in any way.

- People of Debellde and neighboring areas have been complaining of their economic difficulties on account of their inability to access their lands across the border.

- Under the present situation this is the best possible solution we could offer.

- This agreement has been reached after a lot of political persuasion and this was done purely for the benefit of the local people.

- Therefore we are quite surprised to see that some people are now opposing the opening, which was a move undertaken in response to their needs.

- We do believe that the farmers of the area want to use this opportunity to access their lands.

- This is just an opening of a crossing point, people are free not to use it if they do not want to. But those who want to use it should not be prevented by undemocratic means.

- These are remote villages where we are trying to reach out to the people to help them understand that this is for their benefit. The local media can help explain the details of the agreement to the people so that they can make a more informed decision whether having the crossing point would be to their advantage or not.

EXHIBITION OF CLOTHING AND PERSONAL EFFECTS AT THE RAHOVEC/ORAHOVAC MORTUARY

An exhibition of clothes and personal effects of approximately 30 victims recovered from Petrovo Selo (Serbia Proper) today (Monday 7th) and Tuesday 8th July 2003 is currently taking place in Rahovec/Orahovac mortuary.

According to available information, the associated mortal remains may belong to missing persons from the events of Izbice, Qirez and Bogice. Families of persons who disappeared in those events are invited to the exhibition.

Another announcement from the office on Missing Persons and Forensics, which has launched the first forensic medicine diploma in Kosovo to provide capacity-building training in forensic medicine for local professionals, as a key part of its ongoing efforts to modernize the medical legal (forensic) system. The first graduation class started yesterday.

This diploma is internationally recognized and has been created in collaboration with Coimbra University, Portugal. The course will last for one year and is supported by a selected team of international forensic experts.

The diploma is designed to increase their knowledge and bring the students’ expertise more in line with European forensic practices and standards. This capacity-building initiative is a crucial development in equipping local staff with the skills necessary to continue establishing the fate and whereabouts of missing persons.

One last point: we are surprised by this criticism coming from Belgrade about the Criminal Codes. Clearly they do not seem to be serious when they say that the two codes are full of holes or that it would encourage Albanian separatism. These codes have been discussed for three years and experts from the European Union, From the United States and the Council of Europe as well as the entire Myriad of legal experts from other international organizations as well as the UN NY legal office have all worked on it thoroughly. I wonder how these people formulated their comments. I am not sure that the people who have been commenting on these two codes have not even read it.

Police Spokesperson Derek Chappell

HOMICIDES

No homicides were recorded during the past week.

ARRESTS FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER

On 07-07-03 in Prizren Region, a male suspect armed with an automatic rifle fired several shots at three men who went to his residence to settle a monetary dispute. Two of the victims were seriously wounded and transported to hospital. Police have arrested the suspect and confiscated the weapon.

On 27-06-03, an attempted murder by shooting occurred in Pristina Region. The suspect was identified and his description was distributed to police across Kosovo. On 03-07-03, a KPS officer at the Kulina Pass boundary crossing point (with Montenegro) arrested the suspect as he tried to flee Kosovo.

COUNTERFEIT MONEY

On 03-07-03 in Prizren Region, police searched a local swimming club as a result of suspicious activity at the business. A pistol and more than 9,000 Euros in counterfeit money were discovered during the operation. A search of the employees’ homes discovered an additional 850 Euro in counterfeit money and a rifle. Three suspects were arrested.

EU Spokesperson Monique De Groot

CommentFTA Albania

The EU Pillar and the European Commission for external relations in Brussels welcome the FTA signed yesterday between UNMIK and Albania.

This is a good agreement for both sides and a positive step towards European integration. FTAs between entities in the region support their economic development and integration into the European Union. As you know regional cooperation is one of the cornerstones in the EU strategy for the Western Balkans as stressed again during the Thessaloniki summit held last month.

We are surprised by some statements in the Belgrade press on this issue today attributed to certain politicians.

I would like to stress that, among others through the Stability Pact network on free trade, Belgrade authorities have been informed about the intentions and the process of the Free Trade negotiations between UNMIK and Albania. Also, all participants of this network - including Serbia and Montenegro - have been provided with the documentation that UNMIK has the legal authority within 1244 to negotiate FTAs.