The KFOR Cases
An interesting line of cases is about to hit the Strasbourg ECHR Court involving the NATO Kosovo Force which I am keeping a keen eye on. One case involves alleged unlawful detentions of individuals by KFOR. Think Gitmo (without the torture?) except its not the US in control, but KFOR acting under UN mandate. Ironic eh? Another involves the death and injury of two children caused by an unexploded bomb which KFOR allegedly failed to secure (ie they were negligent in failing to protect the civilian populace from unexploded bombs in KFOR jurisdiction). Once again, the extraterritorial application of the ECHR is rearing its head, and I am currently working on an article featuring these cases.
I’m also planning to include a detailed analysis of how the Ilascu case fits in on this (which I have noted in previous articles but not done a detailed examination yet), since dicta in Ilascu does touch on notions of “imputability” vs. “responsibility.” Ilascu - involving responsibility for human rights violations in Moldova by both Russia and Moldova - I just learned, also happens to be the longest case ever issued by the Court due in part largely to internal disagreements by the Strasbourg judges (believe me, if you think dissenting and concurring opinions by scotus is bad, you gotta read Ilascu - its a book).
On another ECHR note - the Chechen cases are really starting to hit Strasbourg now, and I predict that Russia is gonna be the next ECHR bad boy after Turkey (and the UK). Poor old Vladmir. I wonder when he’ll wake up from his state of denial and smell the coffee.
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