The Getz Files

Somewhat overshadowed by the showboat in the jail (see below), the first decision that I was very involved in the writing came out on Friday. The full decision is here (if you read it, skip the procedural background - it's not that interesting), but I'll give you a precis.

Ramush Haradinaj, a former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army and then Prime Minister of Kosovo, was indicted by the ICTY in March for various crimes. After he surrendered himself and was taken to The Hague, he applied for provisional release (bail), which was granted. He then applied to have the terms of the release varied so he could participate in politics, to the extent that UNMIK, the UN body that basically administers Kosovo, said would be good for the development of Kosovo. That was also granted, but the prosecution appealed, so we in Appeals had to decide whether those conditions were appropriate.

It was a really interesting case to work on, as it implicated the politics of Kosovo, the law of provisional release, restrictions on prisoners, and delegation, which is a fairly new topic to international law. We* decided, 3-2, after much backwards and forwards, that the new provisional release was OK, but we appended some additional conditions to it. I'm proud to have been involved with the decision.

* It's a pleasure to be able to say "we" rather than "the Appeals Chamber". Our writing style here is a bit stuffy, so it's always "The Appeals Chamber will now..." or "The Appeals Chamber considers..." It sounds a bit pompous, if you ask me (but nobody does). Apart from that, it must also be said that there are a lot of fine legal minds and excellent drafters here.