The Role and Importance of Forensic Documents Examination in Making a Court Decision in Kosovo

Abstract

Among the forms of international criminal assistance, document expertise has its place, as one of the acts of evidence whose results, in the form of expert findings and opinions, contribute greatly to the establishment of legally relevant facts in the proceedings and provide the basis and guarantee for an adequate adjudication of the criminal matter. Defining and unifying the criteria that are the assumption and guarantee of the reliability of the results of expertise is of crucial importance for the relevance and probative value of expert findings and opinions in criminal proceedings, both at the domestic and international levels. When talking about forensic examinations, it is a process that involves defining and applying appropriate standards, or rather the process of accreditation of forensic laboratories. Material evidence, in this case, arises from laboratory analyses through appropriate findings and opinions of competent experts employed in forensic laboratories, and permanent court experts. Regardless of the differences between them, modern criminal proceedings necessarily develop through the acceptance and assessment of evidence derived from laboratories that have a permit and are licensed to operate. This, on the other hand, implies standardization of equipment, validation of applied methods, as well as adequate education and training of laboratory staff and forensic experts, i.e. their accreditation and licensing.