The Continuing Relevance of the Hybrid or Internationalized Justice Model: The Example of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers

Abstract

In August 2015, the Assembly of Kosovo established the Specialist Chambers (SC) and the associated Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) with the mandate of prosecuting international and trans-boundary crimes committed during and after the 1998–1999 Kosovo armed conflict. The objectives in this article assessing the SC are twofold. First, the aim is to provide a critical account of the process that led to the establishment of the SC. It will be inquired whether the decision to create yet another international criminal judicial institution was, from the perspective of judicial economy, the most defensible one. Arguments could be made for instance that the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) would have been better-equipped institutions, given their expertise of the conflict and patterns of crimes under the jurisdiction of the SC. Secondly, the article will delve into some issues of substantive law of particular interest for the SC, namely the applicable law of crimes against humanity and the provisions in the Law establishing the SC under which to prosecute and adjudicate the practice of organ trafficking.