Brussels and Prishtina criticized Belgrade's intention to "establish" judicial jurisdiction in Kosovo.

The Government of Serbia said that it will do this, since, according to it, there is no legal security for the Serbs in Kosovo.

She did not respond to Radio Free Europe's question about how she can establish jurisdiction over a territory where she has no authority.

The law that the Government of Serbia proposed to the Serbian Assembly for approval on October 28, foresees trials for all crimes under the Criminal Code of this country, which were committed after the declaration of Kosovo's independence in February 2008.

This law was said to apply even to criminal proceedings initiated before its adoption. The European Union said that the Serbian government, by adopting this draft law, has violated the Brussels Agreement. The EU invited Belgrade to reconsider its announced adoption.

Speaking to Radio Free Europe, spokesperson Nabila Massrali said that the obligations of Serbia and Kosovo regarding the jurisdiction of judicial authorities have been clear since the signing of the first Brussels Agreement on the normalization of relations between the two countries in 2013.

“The EU reminds Serbia that it is committed to all agreements from the dialogue, which are an integral part of its European integration, and calls on Serbia to reconsider the draft law accordingly,” Massrali said. With EU mediation, Kosovo and Serbia have been in negotiations to normalize relations since 2011.

At the same session, the Serbian government also approved a draft law declaring Kosovo a “special social protection area.” The EU considers that this proposal is also not in line with the Brussels Agreement on the normalization of relations.

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, announced these laws as early as mid-September, as a "response" to the decision of the Kosovo authorities to close the institutions in Kosovo that work under the Serbian system.

Vucic said at the time that the special prosecutor's office and the special court "will prosecute all those who participate in the persecution of the Serbian population" in Kosovo.

He said that the prosecutor's office will have a "special duty to investigate and prosecute the criminal and illegal acts of employees and officials of institutions in Pristina".

What do they say in Belgrade and Pristina?

The director of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, Petar Petkovic, said that the laws are a reaction to, as he put it, "the suppression of the Serbian people by the regime in Pristina and the lack of visible action by the EULEX mission [for the rule of law] of the Union European".

Through a statement to the media, he said "if there was rule of law in Kosovo and if the Serbs had legal security", the law proposed by the Government in Belgrade would not be necessary.

Responding to the EU's assessment of the violation of the Brussels Agreement, Petkovic said that the laws adopted by Serbia - as a form of support for the Serbian people in Kosovo - have nothing to do with the obligations from the dialogue.

The Kosovo government did not respond to Radio Free Europe's question about the Serbian government's decision on judicial jurisdiction in Kosovo, but Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi wrote in X that "Serbia continues to obstruct the dialogue process."

According to him, Serbia "sends letters to the European Commission, in which it expresses its readiness to implement the obligations from the dialogue, but continues to violate the agreements, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Kosovo".

Ivanovic: Effect only on daily politics

The retired judge in Kosovo, Miroslav Ivanovic, tells Radio Free Europe that the eventual formation of these judicial bodies would only affect the daily political situation, since "Serbia cannot exercise the sovereignty of its state bodies in the territory of Kosovo." .

He does not rule out the possibility that this law was proposed to achieve some political goal and then withdrawn. He sees the “retroactive application” of the proposed law as its shortcoming.

"It is not clear to me how anyone will take over something that has happened before. You have an active case of the Banjska attack and the [assassination of Serbian politician] Oliver [Ivanović]. How will anyone take [the case] with the regulation that is being adopted?", says Ivanovic.

His brother, Oliver Ivanovic, was killed in early 2018 in front of his party's facility in North Mitrovica, northern Kosovo.

The Serbian Ministry of Justice did not respond to Radio Free Europe's question about whether the new law would also apply to the Banjska and Oliver Ivanovic cases.

In the case of Banjska – where a group of armed Serbs attacked the Kosovo Police last September and killed a policeman, while in the ensuing exchange of fire, three more Serb attackers were killed – the Kosovo authorities are demanding from Belgrade the extradition of Milan Radoicic, who claimed responsibility for that attack.

Even the High Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, which is conducting investigations against Radoicic, did not respond to Radio Free Europe's question about whether the new law would be applied in that case.

Shkero: Populist measure

According to the proposed law, the High Public Prosecution and the High Court in Belgrade would have jurisdiction in the first instance, while the Public Prosecution of Appeal and the Court of Appeal in Belgrade would have jurisdiction in the second instance.

In the High Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, a special department would be created for the prosecution of crimes committed in the territory of Kosovo, while in the High Court there would be a special department for trials.

The special prosecution, meanwhile, would be led by a special public prosecutor.

Former President of the Supreme Court of Serbia, Vida Petrovic Shkero, tells Radio Free Europe that, according to current legislation in Serbia, the court in the territory where the crime occurred is competent for criminal proceedings.

"It seems to me like a populist measure, to show how we care for the Serbs living in Kosovo", she says.

According to her, the proposed law will not be able to provide protection for people.

"How will the witnesses be heard? How will the investigation be conducted? How will the necessary actions in the proceedings be carried out? As a lawyer, I cannot understand how it will work", says Shkero.

A step back after integration

The legal framework of Serbia still recognizes the headquarters of courts and prosecutor's offices on the territory of Kosovo, but these institutions do not exist since 2017, when Serbian prosecutors and judges were integrated into the Kosovo system.

Miroslav Ivanovic was one of about 40 judges who were integrated into the Kosovo judicial system.

"It remains undefined how and what the department will do. It may conduct some preliminary investigations. In principle, the question arises whether this is also okay, but in practice it is possible. Beyond that, I doubt there could be anything else," says Ivanovic.

According to the proposed law, it is foreseen that the salaries of these prosecutors and judges will increase by 50 percent.

Serbia's Ministry of Justice did not respond to Radio Free Europe's question about whether prosecutors and judges who have resigned from the Kosovo judicial system will be assigned to special prosecutors' offices and court departments.

Protection or legal uncertainty?

In the explanation of the draft law, it is stated that it was approved with the aim of better protection of human rights, which, as claimed, are violated and denied by representatives of Kosovo's institutions.

Jovana Spremo, from the non-governmental Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights in Serbia (YUCOM), says there are a number of open questions that create legal uncertainty.

One of them, according to her, is how the representatives of Kosovo's institutions will be treated - as officials or as natural persons?

"I believe that most of the cases before the institutions established by this law - if not all - will, in fact, be cases that are judged in absentia", says Spremo.

According to her, it is not clear whether the measure was announced as temporary and why the period was taken from the declaration of independence onwards, and not, for example, from the exit of the Serbs from the judicial institutions of Kosovo.

At the beginning of November 2022, the Serbs left the institutions of Kosovo, but also from the municipalities in the north, demanding the withdrawal of the decision of the Government of Kosovo on license plates and the respect of the Brussels agreements.

Miftaraj: Establishment of new parallel institutions

Ehat Miftaraj, of the non-governmental Kosovo Institute for Justice, tells Radio Free Europe that Belgrade’s new approach “resembles the creation of new parallel structures, based in Belgrade.” However, he says that implementing that law – even if passed – will be practically impossible, because Serbia has not had control over the territory of Kosovo for more than 25 years.

According to him, no EU or Balkan country will arrest and extradite Kosovo officials based on that law.

"Well, this new approach of Serbia can be used for internal use and as a false perception that Serbia can still have any authority over Kosovo", says Miftaraj.

Relations between Kosovo and Serbia have been strained since the beginning of the year, when authorities in Pristina began closing down parallel Serbian institutions in the north, considering them unconstitutional and illegal. /Rel/