Constitutional Court

The Applicants submit that the aim of the Law on Amnesty is the amnesty of persons from criminal prosecution and of persons who have not completed their sentence prior to 20 June 2013, According to them, the Law “[…] includes the amnesty of persons who have committed a total of 67 (sixty-seven) criminal offences under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo, Criminal Code of Kosovo (UNMIK Regulation 2003/25 of 6 July 2003) and UNMIK Regulation No, 2004/19 amending the Provisional Criminal Code of Kosovo, Criminal Law of SAPK in conjunction with UNMIK Regulations No, 1999/24 and 2000/59 on the applicable law in Kosovo and all the criminal offences provided under the SFRY Criminal Code,” In the Applicants’ view, the Law on Amnesty has not provided a starting date, but has only provided a date for the amnesty of offences committed prior to that date, The Applicants state that in the criminal law doctrine the main reasons for sanctioning criminal offences is to focus on the protection of social and individual integrity against harmful actions that may violate certain values and that precisely there lies the main foundation of the principle of legality in the criminal branch of every legal system, Considering that the Law on Amnesty contains provisions by which persons having committed criminal offences which have caused harm to the injured party in the criminal proceedings, are exempted from criminal prosecution and from complete execution of the punishment, the Applicants hold that amnesty for such persons violates the right of the injured party to make use of effective legal remedies regarding the exercise of their right to criminal prosecution and individual compensation, In the Applicants’ view, besides criminal offences against the state or the constitutional order and those related to violations of tax and customs obligations, Article 3 [Conditions on granting Amnesty from criminal prosecution and complete execution of the punishment] of the Law includes criminal offences which may have caused or may have attempted to cause harmful consequences for any citizen of the Republic of Kosovo or a foreign citizen, The Court notes that the Applicants allege that Law No, 04/L-209, On Amnesty, is in violation of the Constitution as regards its substance and the procedure followed for adopting the law, As to the substance of the contested Law, the Applicants maintain with respect to the amnestied crimes under the Law on Amnesty that they are in violation of Article 31, paragraphs 1 and 2, Article 32, and Article 24, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Constitution, as well as Article 6, paragraph 1, in conjunction with Articles 13 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), The Applicants also allege that some of the amnestied crimes are in violation of Article 1 of the First Protocol to the ECHR, The Constitutional Court, on 3 September 2013, decided unanimously to declare the Referral admissible, unanimously to declare that the procedure followed for the adoption of the Law on Amnesty, No, 04/L-209, is compatible with the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo, and by majority to declare that the Law, No, 04/L-209, On Amnesty as to its substance is compatible with the Constitution with the exception of the following articles which are declared null and void: 1,1,10 (Destruction or damage to property), 1,1,11 (Arson), 1,1,15,10 (Falsifying documents), 1,1,15,11 (Special cases of falsifying documents), 1,2,5 (Damaging movable property), 1,2,9,7 (Falsifying official documents), 1,3,1 (Damaging another person’s object), 1,3,5,6 (Falsifying documents) and 1,3,5,7 (Falsifying official documents)