Guest Lecture: Bashkim Jupolli, "The accused’s right to information before the Kosovo Special Chambers (KSC)"

In this seminar, guest researcher Bashkim Jupolli looks into the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor's Office. The accused's right to information in these chambers is compared with practices from other international criminal courts and tribunals.

Headshot of Bashkim Jupolli

Bashkim Jupolli

Practical information

This is an in-person event. If you wish to attend the lecture, please register using the link below. 

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About the seminar

This lecture tackles the contours of the accused’s right to information before the Kosovo Special Chambers (KSC). The accused’s right to information is an important component of the right to a fair trial. The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) includes several safeguards concerning this right, especially the right of the accused to information about the charges, which stems from Art. 6(3)(a) ECHR and the right of access to the materials of the case (“case file”) which stems from Art. 5(4) and Art. 6(1) ECHR, as interpreted by the European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR). Yet, these rights and freedoms even though guaranteed under Kosovan domestic law, the ECHR and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (directly applicable in Kosovo), are infringed or broken, or at least not adequately safeguarded.

The Kosovo Special Chambers (KSC) and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) were established by the Kosovan government in 2015, in cooperation with the international community to address war crimes committed in Kosovo in 1999-2000. First, this lecture looks at the formation and mandate of the KSC and SPO, pursued by an overview of the right of the accused to information, by looking mainly into the Constitution, KSC’s legal framework, and the ECHR. Secondly, KSC’s work and practice will be compared to that of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and International Criminal Court (ICC). Because of KSC being a relatively new legal institution, having started trying cases in the last few years, the lecture will look into the accused right to information in pre-trial phase with regards to two issues: first, the notification of the charges and subsequent changes to them, before turning to disclosure obligations on the part of the SPO.

About the speaker

Bashkim Jupolli is a PhD candidate and Teaching Assistant in Criminal Procedure Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Prishtina (UP), Kosovo, and a guest researcher at Norwegian Centre for Human Rights. His research concerns Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law, with a focus on the right to a fair trial.

 

Tags: Kosovo, Right to a fair trial, ECHR, ICCPR
Published Sep. 8, 2022 12:37 PM - Last modified Sep. 8, 2022 12:37 PM