On 5 April 2016, the Panel of the Court of Appeals, composed of two international and one local judge, has decided upon the appeal of SPRK against the Judgment of Acquittal of the Basic Court of Mitrovica in a war crime case against the civilian population.
The Appellate Panel by unanimous vote decided to partially annul the Judgment of the first instance court and sent the case back for retrial.
The Basic Court of Mitrovica with its Judgment rendered on 29 May 2014 acquitted the defendants I.H, SH.H, N.Q. and S.S. of all charges on multiple counts for committing the criminal offence of War Crimes against the Civilian Population. After the public session on 5 April 2016, the Appellate Panel unanimously confirmed the acquittal of the defendants I.H. and N.Q. in relation to the violation of the bodily integrity and health of one Kosovo Albanian civilian female and torture of another Kosovo Albanian civilian female by the defendants as no evidence could conclusively relate these two defendants to the crimes.
However, the Appellate Panel found that the case should be sent back for retrial in relation to the identification of the defendant S.S, the involvement of the defendant I.H. in mock execution and the identification of Sh. H. in the event of rape.