The Role of the Presiding Judge in the Main Trial under the Criminal Procedure Code of Kosovo

• Author: Valon Xhemajl Brahimi
• Pages: 173-186

JURIDICA

173

The Role of the Presiding Judge in the

Main Trial under the Criminal Procedure

Code of Kosovo

Valon BRAHIMI1, Arton OBËRTINCA2

Abstract: When legal regulation of the criminal proceedings takes place, and also when applied in

practice by the procedural authorities, there are two requirements or tendencies before the lawmakers

and prosecuting authorities which are very important for the society and the individual: the requirement

for the efficiency of criminal proceedings, and the request for the protection of human rights. The first

tendency is to regulate the criminal proceedings through the powers given to the state bodies that act in

criminal proceedings, in such a way that no perpetrator of criminal offenses is left unpunished. Whereas,

the other tendency is intended to respect the human rights because, as known, according to the principle

of presumption of innocence, the person is considered innocent until it is not found contrary by a court

decision. In this context, it should be emphasized that the biggest burden falls on the person directing

the criminal proceedings at the main trial. In order to accomplish this goal, the Criminal Procedure

Code defines certain rights and obligations of the presiding judge which he/she is to put into effect at

the criminal proceedings during the main trial. It is well known that the number of the presiding judge’s

powers in criminal proceedings is enormous, and that it is impossible to address all of them in this

scientific paper. For this reason, we have decided to focus only on the role of the presiding judge at the

main trial in the sense of addressing some of the rights and duties we consider to be found more often

in practice, respectively in criminal proceedings at the main trial in Kosovo. In addressing this issue in

this scientific paper, the following methods have been used: - historical, legal, and comparative

methods.

Keywords: Administration; Presiding Judge; Court Hearing; Presiding; Examination

1 PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law-Department of Criminal Law, University of Prishtina Hasan Prishtina,

Republic of Kosovo, Address: Str. George Bush, no. 31, 10 000 Prishtinë, Republic of Kosovo,

Corresponding author: valonbrahimi@outlook.com.

2 Master Degree in Criminal-Law Sciences, University of Prishtina Hasan Prishtina, Prishtina, Republic

of Kosovo, Address: Str. George Bush, no. 31, 10 000 Prishtinë, Republic of Kosovo, E-mail:

valonbrahimi@outlook.com.

AUDJ, Vol. 15, No. 1/2019, pp. 173-186