Kosovo Courts 'Should be Restored in North'

Pristina _ The Steering Council of the Kosovo Judges’ Association has warned of a legal gap in the territory’s north and urged authorities to restore courts there.

“By not allowing the regular exercise of court functioning at all levels in Mitrovica and other northern parts of the Republic of Kosovo, citizens from this region are lacking protection of their elementary rights”.

Courts in the Serb-dominated parts of northern Kosovo have been left in a legal blackhole since the proclamation of independence by Pristina’s ethnic Albanian majority on February 17.

On March 17, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, which has been running Kosovo since 1999, was forced to seize a courthouse taken by Serb employees just days earlier, in a bid to bring it under Belgrade’s control.

The move led to clashes in which a UN police officer was killed and more than 150 people injured.

“This allows for the violation of positive laws, especially Article 6 of the European Convention on Fundamental Rights of and Freedoms,” the statement says.

“The Steering Council of the Kosovo Judges’ Association urges all local and international players to urgently enable the normal functioning of the judiciary in this region and enable all employees of those courts to return to their working places to carry out their obligations according to the constitution and the laws.”