SUMMARY
Cele Gashi
against
The United Nations Mission in Kosovo
(UNMIK)
12 September 2001
In this case, the Ombudsperson found that the deprivation of liberty of the applicant from 28 March 2001 to the date of the Report, imposed under a series of Executive Orders of the SRSG could not be considered to be lawful, that the overriding by the SRSG of the 28 March 2001 decision of the District Court in Pristina to release the applicant from detention, the lack of adequate procedural protections to challenge the lawfulness of deprivations of liberty imposed on the applicant under Executive Orders, and the lack of an enforceable right to compensation for the unlawful deprivation of liberty suffered by the applicant constituted violations of several provisions of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Ombudsperson also found that the applicant had not enjoyed the right to a court for the determination of his civil right to liberty, in violation of his rights under para. 1 of Article 6 of the Convention. The Ombudsperson finally found that no circumstances existed that required consideration of the applicability of Article 15 of the Convention, permitting limited derogations from human rights obligations, to the facts of the case.
The Ombudsperson recommended that the SRSG, no later than 21 September 2001 (the last work day prior to the expiration of the 24 August 2001 Executive Order authorising the continued detention of the applicant), convene a panel composed of international judges to review, on an urgent basis, the lawfulness of the detention of the applicant, such review to conform with the requirements of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Ombudsperson also recommended that the SRSG undertake to comply with the decision on detention or release of the applicant taken by the judicial panel convened in accordance with the previous recommendation.
The Ombudsperson also recommended that the SRSG, no later than 28 September 2001, comply with the recommendations set forth in Special Report No. 3 and reiterated in this individual case report, to promulgate a Regulation setting forth the legal bases for compensation claims for unlawful deprivations of liberty and instituting a system of proper judicial proceedings in this respect and, on the date of its entry into force, disseminate, through all appropriate channels the new UNMIK Regulation in all languages widely used in Kosovo.
There has been no response to this Report.
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