On February 10th 2015, Kosovo Judicial Institute organized a roundtable discussion related to Investigation and trial of terrorism cases.
Focus at this roundtable was on challenges, problems and actual practices in combating terrorism crimes.
Panelists and participants at the roundtable initially presented their challenges and issues they face during investigation and trial of these offences, starting from the fact that crimes of this nature are relatively new in the judicial case law.
In this context, investigation and trial of terrorism was elaborated from the perspective of legal framework in country, the judges’ and prosecutor’s professionalism, as well as the necessary resources for combating this phenomenon.
Participants claimed that some legal norms are rigid and do not support the terrorism combating sufficiently. At the time when this phenomenon is increasing and experience for fighting these crimes is not consolidated, it is needed that judges and prosecutors specialize in terrorism area and handle only this type of cases. In this light, besides the Special Prosecution the need for establishment of the special department for terrorism cases within the Basic Court of Prishtina was raised, that would process only cases that derive from the jurisdiction of this Prosecution.
From the perspective of resources it was concluded that number of prosecutors at the Special Prosecution shall increase including the financial resources of this prosecution. Because of the close relation with the prosecutors work and impact in accelerating case processing in courts, it was found that number of employees shall increase, along with enhancement of professionalism and technical resources at the Forensic Agency.
Legal cooperation with other states in obtaining evidence and exchange of information for these cases is necessary and it shall intensify further.
Participants of this roundtable were local and EULEX judges and prosecutors.
10-02-2015