The Court of Appeal has returned the case against Çaslav Joliq, sentenced by the Basic Court in Pristina to 8 years imprisonment for war crimes in the city of Istog.
"With the approval of the appeal of the defender of the CJ, lawyer Miodrga Brkljač, the judgment of the Basic Court in Pristina... dated 22.06.2024 is annulled and the case is returned to the court of first instance for retrial", it is stated in the decision taken on November 4, 2024 by Court of Appeal.
Initially, in the decision, it is noted that the lawyer Brkljaç filed an appeal against the decision of the Foundation due to violations of the legal provisions, with a request that the decision be changed, the accused be released or the case be returned to a retrial.
The Special Prosecutor's Office submitted a response to the lawyer's complaint with a proposal that the decision of the Foundation be confirmed, while the complaint of the lawyer Brkljač is rejected as unfounded.
Regarding the complaint of the lawyer Brkljač, the Appellate Prosecutor's Office submitted a submission through which it requested that the complaint be rejected and the decision of the Foundation be confirmed and the response of the Special Prosecutor's Office be treated as well-founded.
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War crimes defendant Časlav Jolic's sentence reduced in retrial
After receiving the complaint and the responses to the complaint, the Appeal scheduled and held the collegium session where the injured parties Zef Malësia and Nexhmedin Curraj, the accused Joliq and the lawyer Brkljaç presented themselves, while no one from the Appeal Prosecution was presented.
The appeal has established that the provision of the decision of the Foundation is unclear and contrary to its reasoning, where no clear and concrete reasons were given for the decisive facts of the criminal case against Joliq.
Further, it is said that the blow to the head that the injured person Malësia claimed was caused by the accused Joliq as described in the reasoning, while in the enacting clause of the decision it is said that the blow was caused by a person with the nickname "Dulle".
Therefore, according to the Appeal, there is a contradiction between the provision of the decision and the statements of the injured Malësia, not proving that the blow was caused by the defendant Joliq.
Also, the Appeal found that from the statement of the victim Naim Ferati, it was not proven what the incriminating action of the accused Joliq was, for which he was found guilty.
The appeal requested that in the retrial, each piece of evidence be analyzed one by one and after the final assessment, explain why the court considers it reliable and objective or why it does not value the evidence as such.
Also, the Appeal has found that the witness Curraj's statement to the prosecution initially said that two people had entered the car, Llaza and another, while in the judicial examination he stated that Llaza and the person named Joliq were in the car.
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The Basic Court in the retrial reduces the sentence of the accused for war crimes in Istog, Časlav Joliq
For which, according to the Appeal, the decision of the Foundation has become unstable and involved in an essential violation.
Otherwise, the Special Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kosovo (PSRK) on November 18, 2022, filed an indictment against the defendant Çaslav Joliq on the grounds that during the time of the war in Kosovo, in complicity with other persons, violating the rules of international law, he applied measures of torture and causing great suffering or harm to bodily integrity or health against the civilian population that did not directly participate in the conflict for war-related reasons. / Oath of Justice
