Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told 6 District Court Pec, K 144/98; 15, 16 and 17 February, 14 defendants (Pec Trials Case 19). 7 Most prominently the case against Fatima Boshnjaku at the Djakovica Municipal Court. This was an exception, however, since the competent judge at Pec District Court had refused to take the case. A Supreme Court decision then referred the case one level down, to the Municipal Court. 8 OSCE-KVM monitors had difficulties in monitoring trials in the Municipal Courts in Pristina, Urosevac/Ferizaj and Klina/Klina. In Klina, for example, the local Municipal Court President furiously refused any contact with the OSCE-KVM, and even consistent friendly approaches and interventions from the level of the higher courts in the course of two months could not resolve this. 9 As recounted by OSCE-KVM trial monitors. 10 Podujevo municipality was put under the jurisdiction of the District Court of Kursumlije, in Serbia proper. Trials falling under the jurisdiction of this municipality would thus be held in Kursumlje and consequently could not be monitored by the OSCE-KVM. 11 For an explanation of the competence of the Prokuplje court over Podujevo municipality see n. 6. 12 This is simply the retitled criminal code of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), the pre-1992 Yugoslav state. 13 Djakovica Municipal Court, trial of Fatima Boshnjaku on 17 February 1999, bill of charges. 14 Article 139, (1) The offender shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than 10 years or by the death penalty for a criminal act referred to in … article 136, paragraph 1 of this law, which brought about the death of a person or caused danger to human lives, or was coupled by heavy violence or a large-scale destruction, or which led to the endangerment of the security, economic or military power of the country, or in other particularly heavy cases. (2) The sentence defined in paragraph 1 of this article shall be imposed also on those who commit a criminal act referred to in… article 136, paragraphs 1 and 2 of this law in a state of war or in the case of an imminent war danger. 15 As recounted by OSCE-KVM trial monitors. 16 Summarized from the OSCE-KVM reporting of the "Urosevac group" trial. 17 Also, the so-called "Panda Bar" incident in Pec (see Pec municipality entry) was never properly investigated, according to suspects' defence lawyers. 18 As noted by OSCE-KVM members, this standard phrase was uttered by Investigating Judges especially during http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch10.htm (15 of 18)12/5/2003 11:52:22 AM