People’s Advocate, Naim Qelaj presented the report “Preliminary review for the Specialized Chambers of Kosovo”, the findings of which state that human rights and freedoms have been violated by the Specialized Chambers of the Special Court in The Hague against the former leaders of the KLA during the judicial process.

Qelaj stated in a press conference that for the preparation of the report they engaged an authority, as he called it, independent and neutral, to make a preliminary assessment of the concerns that year after year the institution has addressed to various bodies regarding these phenomena. He said that the commitment of the Committee of the Chamber of Advocates for Human Rights of England and Wales was made based on their professional expertise, impartiality and integrity.

“The report confirms the concerns raised, finds that these concerns are substantial and serious enough to justify further institutional review. So the fact that the report is preliminary does not mean that it did not succeed in ascertaining the violations factually, but that concerns. And moreover, in point 26 of the report, from the very beginning the report states that the mandate of the Specialized Chambers deviated from the original purpose and is not in the spirit claimed by the Council of Europe report.

Qelaj underlined that one of the violations of human rights was the time details of detention and early release.

“Regarding regarding the issue of detention and the restriction of rights during detention, the report highlights serious concerns regarding the duration of detention, the lack of real opportunities for early release, and the limitations of family and professional communications, i.e. with the defense teams. And moreover, among other things, the report finds that release in the Netherlands, where criminal proceedings take place, is not possible, creating a structural obstacle that aggravates the position of the accused. he.

Qelaj spoke about the chronology of the identification of violations and their addressing. He said that the initial concerns from the People’s Advocate were raised in 2021 and were articulated by the accused themselves, from the visit that the People’s Advocate made to the Specialized Chambers at that time. According to Qelaj, these concerns were also addressed during the meeting with the president of the Specialized Chambers Court in May 2025.

“I still haven’t received a clear answer from the president of the court, so I submitted a request for a second visit to the Specialized Chambers, with the request that I met with the court, with the defense, with the defenders of the victims, visited the prisoners there, but also monitored two hearings. In November 2025, this visit was carried out and after the visit we sent a letter to the court, the president of the court, the letter is dated December 3, 2025. Together with the president of the court, a letter was also sent to the Committee for the Prevention of Torture of the Council of Europe and the Committee of the International Red Cross, in which letters we presented the concerns and dilemmas we had regarding the respect of human rights in this judicial process”, he spoke about the chronology of the event.

Qelaj said that they have found serious concerns, but that they have not received answers to these concerns from either the Committee for the Prevention of Torture or the International Red Cross.

“The International Red Cross has responded that it has monitored the spaces in the prison center but that the reports are internal, so it does not make them public as a rule, while the Committee for the Prevention of Torture “Tortures has stated in the letter that they have received the letter and will consider how they will act from now on, but so far we have not received a concrete answer. The court has remained silent, so we have not received any answer since that date,” he said.

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Source: prizrenpost