UNMIK/PR/1197
PRISTINA – Today 36 Kosovans took the Oath of Office as new members of the judicial and prosecutorial service. Mr Jean-Christian Cady, Deputy SRSG for Police and Justice, and Mr Rexhep Haximusa, President of the Supreme Court of Kosovo, officiated at the swearing-in ceremony held at the UNMIK HQ in Pristina this afternoon.
Speaking on the occasion, DSRSG Cady called upon Kosovo’s legal community to contribute to the development of modern and professional codes of conduct for judges and prosecutors. “You will have to ensure that court rulings are made and criminal proceedings are conducted on the basis of the applicable law and not on the basis of partisan or political considerations. The Public prosecutor’s offices must exercise their functions promptly, impartially and objectively, regardless of the ethnicity, gender, religious or political affiliation of the defendant. There is a need to have greater sensitivity towards victims of crimes and protect the confidentiality of threatened witnesses. It is your responsibility to ensure that the victims, defendants and witnesses are fully informed of their rights and are afforded opportunity to exercise those rights during the investigative and judicial proceedings,” he said.
The DSRSG outlined the measures being undertaken to improve training of judges and lawyers including promulgation of a new legislation to fully establish the Kosovo Judicial Institute as a School for Magistrates to provide initial training and advanced legal education. Along with a new judicial examination, compulsory pre-appointment training for judges and prosecutors will be introduced. Post-appointment vocational training system will be improved and continuous legal education programme for lawyers will be established within the Kosovo Chamber of Advocates. “But ultimately, the responsibility for maintaining the law and knowing the law is entrusted to you,” Mr Cady told the new appointees.
Among the one judge and 35 prosecutors sworn-in today, there are one Bosniac and two Turkish prosecutors.
The new appointments bring the total number of Kosovo prosecutors to 84 including 78 Kosovo Albanians, two Kosovo Serbs and four from other ethnic groups. The judges now number 311, of which 278 are Kosovo Albanians, 16 Kosovo Serbs and 17 from other ethnic groups.