On 15 June 2021, the CEPEJ organised a hybrid workshop on implementation of an automatic Re-Assignment of judges and/or judicial panels in criminal cases during which CEPEJ experts presented their findings and recommendations. These recommendations aim to address situations when judges designated to adjudicate criminal cases retire, move to a different court or go on extended leave and their cases have are re-assigned manually.

The CEPEJ experts already recalled that the re-assignement of criminal cases should remain an exceptional and automatic procedure, based on strict rules which was part of the online discussions.

The objective of this workshop was to come to an agreement between all stakeholders to set up an action plan for the implementation of IT functionalities which enable automatic and random re-assignment of criminal cases in the Kosovan courts.

The workshop which brought together about 20 participants has been attended by representatives of the High Council of the Judiciary (KJC), of the Ministry of Justice, of the European Commissionand of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo* (EULEX).

This activity was organised by the KoSEJ II Action “Strengthening the Quality and Efficiency of Justice in Kosovo”, which is part of the joint programme entitled "Horizontal Facility of the Western Balkans and Turkey II", co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence