On 7 June, the first thematic round table on Reasonable time of proceedings with the participation of judges and legal advisors of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo* was organised under the Project. Three international keynote speakers with extensive experience on the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention) and the case-law of the European Court (the Court) facilitated peer-to-peer professional exchange with project beneficiaries.

Participants discussed reasonable time of proceedings in light of Article 6 of the Convention (right to fair trial) and relevant jurisprudence of the Court, as well as the national experience in Slovenia, Russia and Albania. Particular attention was given to the key reasons for delays in proceedings and remedies and compensatory mechanisms introduced in different jurisdictions in line with the standards set by the Court. The experts, judges and legal advisors attending this event also analysed the situation in the judicial system in Kosovo*, reflecting on different phases of transition from international to local administration of justice and measures undertaken to address lengthy proceedings and accumulated case backlog. The participants discussed particular proposals on standards on reasonable time of proceedings in Kosovo* courts, taking into consideration existing human and technical capacities, complexity of cases and accessibility of effective remedies.

In total, the project foresees six thematic round tables with involvement of prominent international experts on different articles of the Convention. The project “Improving the Protection of European Human Rights Standards by the Constitutional Court of Kosovo*” is funded by Norwegian government and being implemented by the Council of Europe.