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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia had better file suits against countries recognising Kosovo independence

Belgrade, 27 March 2008

Legal advisor to the Serbian state team for negotiations on the status of Kosovo-Metohija and Director of the Swiss Institute of Federalism Thomas Fleiner stated that it would be better for Serbia to file suits before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague against the countries that recognised the self-proclaimed Kosovo state.

In a statement for the Tanjug news agency, Fleiner said that this option would be better for Serbia than asking for the opinion through the UN General Assembly, as majority of UN members would have to support that claim.

By directly pressing charges before the ICJ, Serbia would be one of the sides in the process with all pertaining rights, whereas by asking for an opinion on the legality of Kosovo declaration of independence it would be just a privileged party, and not the party in the process, he explained.

According to him, the proposal that the UN General Assembly should be asked for opinion on legality is possible only if the majority of members in this body support the idea.

He noted that the court’s decision would not be compulsory because there are no sides which are directly involved in the dispute.

If Serbia files charges directly against these countries, its position would be that of the party included in the dispute, with all pertaining rights. In case the ICJ asks for an opinion, Serbia would be in a privileged position, but it would not have these rights, said Fleiner.

Speaking about the possibility of filing charges against countries that recognised the independence at their own courts, he specified that this option depends on the laws of those states and noted that such a suit would be pointless when it comes to Switzerland.

According to him, Swiss courts would refuse to have jurisdiction over foreign laws, that is, international acts and regulations.

On the other hand, the Swiss law states that any violent secession and support of such acts is considered a crime, however, such a case can be led only against individuals who do not have diplomatic immunity, explained Fleiner.