European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo

Back from the Brink

EU rule of law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, Police officers patrol the area near the border crossing between Kosovo and Serbia in Jarinje, Kosovo, September 28, 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/VALDRIN XHEMAJ

First, let me say that before judge Simmons was elevated to the presidency of the Assembly of Judges, he was also serving in the same capacity as an international criminal judge from the United Kingdom. I sat with him on the trial panel in a murder case in Prizren in 2011, and found his participation to be highly professional.

The lawyer for murdered political party leader Oliver Ivanovic said on Tuesday that allegations made by Malcolm Simmons, former head judge at the EU's rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, showed that the war crimes prosecution of the Kosovo Serb politician was a "fabricated court case".

Malcolm Simmons, a former head judge for the EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, EULEX told the Kosovo parliamentary commission on legislation on Monday that the mission prioritised putting prominent wartime figures on trial despite having little evidence, and failed to protect witnesses and deliver justice.

On Monday, Kosovo's Pristina Basic Court sentenced a former Kosovo Serb policeman, Zoran Vukotic, to ten years in prison for rape and for participating in the expulsion of ethnic Albanian civilians during the war in Kosovo in 1999.

The ruling was called historic because it the first time someone had been convicted in Kosovo of sexual abuse during the 1998-9 war.

Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia, Romania and Spain firmly hold their political views on the so-called Kosovo, because otherwise they would have a problem with their territorial integrity.

The remains of 18 people who disappeared during the Kosovo war were identified in Serbia from 2016 to 2020, while another 32 missing persons were identified in Kosovo, says a new report published on Tuesday by the Belgrade-based Youth Initiative for Human Rights, YIHR and the Mitrovica-based New Social Initiative.

The Greek government's decision to introduce temporary restrictions on border crossings and a ban on entry into the country for third-country nationals is extended until December 14.

On BIRN's televised programme Jeta ne Kosove on Thursday, Agriculture Minister Besian Mustafa expressed his dismay at the failure of the justice system in Kosovo to shed light on the murder of his father, Xhemajl, in 2000.

A former chief judge for the EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, Malcolm Simmons, has asked to tell the Kosovo Assembly about the alleged wrongdoings he said he witnessed in his time in office, the head of Kosovo Parliamentary Commission on Legislation, Shkemb Manaj, told BIRN on Wednesday.