On 5 May 2023 a Panel of the Court of Appeals Chamber of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in the Hague found that the fact that Pjetër Shala who is facing trial for war crimes was not provided access to a lawyer during a police interview conducted by Belgian authorities in Belgium in 2016 (specifically the Belgian authorities failed to inform him of his right to legal representation during the interview and this right was not available to him) constituted a violation of the standards of international human rights law.

Nonetheless, the Appeals Panel found that the statements obtained during the 2016 Belgian Interview were admissible. Importantly, the Appeals Chamber accepted Shala’s argument that the Trial Panel erred in the admissibility test it sought to apply which required the existence of a “causal link” between the violation of a suspect’s rights and the gathering of evidence. The requirement of a “causal link” which in the view of the Appeals Chamber was “borrowed” from ICC jurisprudence was inconsistent with guiding ECtHR jurisprudence. The violation of a suspect’s rights “must be linked to the gathering of the evidence at issue” and must not be interpreted “as an additional test to assess allegations of violations”.  

Source image: Reuters