When Interpol Comes Calling…™
Special Panel for Kosovo (SPK)
The Special Panel for Kosovo (SPK) is a joint national/international court established in February 2000 as part of the United Nations International Judges and Prosecutors (IJP) program. The IJP program has also be used in the courts in East Timor, Sierra Leone, and the Extraordinary Chamber of Cambodia.
The operations of this court were overseen by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Initially, the Kosovo court applied Kosovo law and was not confined to considering only international crimes. The Special Panels were ad hoc creations in which a matter would be brought by “64” petition and heard by a panel of two international judges and one Kosovan judge, who was ethnic Albanian. These panels applied the same law that Kosovo courts applied.
In 2003, the UNMIK Department of Justice decided to take operational and legal control of the Kosovar Special Panels. It created a Criminal Division and transferred the international resources into that Division.
Jurisdiction
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Subject Matter Jurisdiction
The SPK may try a case brought to it by petition and approved by the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG).
Temporal Jurisdiction
The SPK may exercise jurisdiction over crimes committed under Kosovo law and approved for hearing by the SRSG.
Personal Jurisdiction
The SPK may prosecute any natural individual.
Territorial Jurisdiction
The SPK may investigate and try cases concerning events occurred in Kosovo.
The Special Panels applied the same laws applied by Kosovo courts.
Laws, Rules, and Agreements
Other Information
Michael E. Hartman. International Judges and Prosecutors in Kosovo: A New Model for Post-Conflict Peacekeeping (United States Institute of Peace, October 2003).