UNMIK/PR/1161
Let me first of all express what a pleasure it is for me to participate with Ambassador Fieschi in the opening of this training session organized by the Kosovo Judicial Institute. Let me welcome President Haxhimusa of the Supreme Court of Kosovo, his colleagues of the Supreme Court and the Kosovo judges and prosecutors. Let me also greet Mr. Borg-Olivier, our Legal Adviser.
Tomorrow will be a great day for Kosovo as on this day the Provisional Criminal Code and the Provisional Criminal Procedure Code for Kosovo will enter into force. It will be the first time that Kosovo judges and prosecutors will deliver justice using Codes where were created in Kosovo and for Kosovo. It will be the first time in Kosovo’s history that the laws that you are going to use are the laws that you drafted and that were approved by the Kosovo Assembly. So we cannot overestimate the importance of this event.
Before preparing this speech, I had a close look at the Criminal Code and I compared it with a Code I am more familiar with, the French Criminal Code, which is very similar to the Codes existing in Continental Europe. So my comparison is not so much between France and Kosovo, but between continental Western Europe and Kosovo. And let me draw two conclusions.
The first conclusion is that the Kosovo Code is much shorter and therefore easier to use. There are only 357 Articles. Whereas in France, as in the rest of Europe, Codes comprise several thousands of Articles as they are the product of a long history, in which laws piled up on top of each other. In my view, this shows a superiority of the Kosovo code. A lengthy code, as in France, is not necessarily better. But it is surely more complicated and difficult to use.
The second conclusion is that as the Kosovo Criminal Code is provisional, it is also incomplete. This should not be seen as a criticism. Some regulations, some administrative directions taken by the SRSG prior to, and since, the promulgation of the Code, need to be added, when they define a criminal offence. I think in particular of the money laundering regulation, but there are other examples.
There is also nothing in the Code regarding copyrights and when I see in the streets of Pristina the number of illegal CDs sold by hundreds of vendors, I think we should do something about this, and have proper legislation to enforce.
But the purpose of my speech is not to point out the gaps in our Criminal Code. They will be corrected in due course. What should be remembered is that this Code gives efficient tools for law enforcement, which are coherent and compliant with human rights standards, and along the norms of Western Europe. This is a step forward for Kosovo.
If I had made this speech three weeks ago, I would have stopped here. But as I am delivering this speech two weeks after the violence which occurred in Kosovo on 17-18 March, let me mention a couple of points.
The first point is that everyone lost in this violence. The Kosovo Serbs and other minorities, as they were the main target, their houses and their churches were burned. Lives were lost. The Kosovo Albanians also lost, as they lost a great deal of the confidence that international community had in them. They lost also a great deal of support.
The second point I would like to make is that as investigations progress, cases will be handed over to the judicial system. In my view, most cases are to be given to the Kosovo prosecutors and judges. They will act independently as usual, free from any political influence, free from ethnic or other prejudice, according to the oath they took.
But they will have a huge responsibility because they will have not only cases, and defendants, of arson, murder and violence in their hands, but also the international reputation of Kosovo. From their decision we shall know whether the judicial system supports a free, multiethnic society which wants to ban violence and give equal rights to all ethnic communities.
Let me conclude with this. I have confidence in the judicial system of Kosovo. I have confidence in the judges and prosecutors of Kosovo. I am sure that with this new Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, the rule of law will make significant progress.