Press Release

4 July 1999

STATEMENT ON THE RIGHT OF KFOR TO APPREHEND AND DETAIN

In accordance with United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) of 10 June 1999, KFOR has the mandate and responsibility to ensure both public safety and order as well as civil law and order until the United Ntions Interim Administration  Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) itself can take full responsibility for maintaining civil law and order in Kosovo.

In performing this task, KFOR has the right to apprehend and detain persons who are suspected of having committed offences against public safety and order, including the commission of such serious offences as murder, rape, kidnapping or arson, or war crimes.

Internationally recognized human rights standards, however, require that persons arrested  for criminal offences are brought promptly before a court, a judge or an officer vested with judicial power. The name of the detained person shall thus immediately be reported to one of the prosecutors newly appointed by UNMIK. The detained individual shall subsequently be brought before an investigating judge or a person vested with judicial power by UNMIK, as soon as this is possible given the current exceptional state of the judiciary.

If requested, the detained individual shall be given an opportunity to contact a defense counsel of his or her own choosing. Where possible, the detained individual should also be given the opportunity to contact a member of his or her family or any other person of his or her choosing.

UNMIK currently is in the process of re-establishing an independent, impartial and multiethnic judicial system in Kosovo. As such it is UNMIK’s goal to provide due process to every detained individual in accordance with internationally recognized human rights standards.

As the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Kosovo, it is my duty to ensure, through close coordination between UNMIK and KFOR, that we will realize these goals jointly and in a mutually supportive manner. UNMIK’s recent appointment of judges and prosecutors to conduct hearings of individuals currently held in KFOR detention, reflects this close cooperation.