UNMIK/PR/1267
Pristina – The DSRSG for Police and Justice Jean-Christian Cady and the Minister of Justice of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Hixhet Mehmeti today signed a Protocol on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons during a meeting in Skopje.
The Protocol is largely based on the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons of 21 March 1983 and provides a legal basis to allow prisoners from Kosovo and FYROM to serve their sentences within their own society.
According to the Protocol, prisoners – either a Macedonian national serving a sentence in Kosovo or a Kosovan serving a sentence in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia – may apply for transfer to a prison in their home jurisdiction.
A sentenced person may be transferred under this Protocol only if all of the following conditions are met:
first, the prisoner in question and both entities – that is UNMIK and FYROM authorities – must agree to the transfer;
second, the judgment of the courts is final, implying that all appeals must have been exhausted in the case.
Other than in exceptional circumstances, the sentenced person applying to be transferred must have at least six months of the sentence outstanding, or must be serving an indeterminate sentence.
In addition, the acts for which the prisoner has been sentenced must be considered a criminal offence under the law of both jurisdictions, that is, Kosovo and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.