News in English     | 08.07.2020. 11:22 |

Pivić: Serbia violates agreements with BiH and principles of criminal justice

FENA Press release

SARAJEVO, July 8 (FENA) - Deputy Minister of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina Nezir Pivić said that although the Serbian Ministry of Justice has the same legal standards at its disposal as BiH, they have decided to ignore BiH's demands for extradition of its citizens in order to conduct criminal proceedings for alleged violations of international humanitarian law committed in its territory and for which evidence can only be held by its judiciary.

“This is indisputable proof that the Serbian judiciary is working in the interest of the policy of that country, which equalizes the roles in the war by prosecuting the citizens of BiH,” Pivić assessed.

The fact is, he says, that the Serbian judiciary uses universal jurisdiction for political purposes, regardless of how much the Serbian Ministry of Justice emphasized its independence and defended it by international standards, which is a dead letter in that country.

“It is proved by the fact that Mujanović was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the basis of indirect testimonies of prosecution witnesses, without any material evidence and testimonies of direct witnesses in that procedure, and the Serbian judiciary prevented the defense from presenting evidence. Can anyone explain how the evidence was collected in this case? Is this legal evidence,” Pivić stated.

On the other hand, the same judiciary has been trying for years to conduct proceedings against Novak Đukić, who gets sick every time he has to appear before court, and has already been convicted in Bosnia and Herzegovina for war crimes. He escaped serving his sentence by fleeing to Serbia and BiH has issued a warrant for him, while the Serbian judiciary in his case is clearly not efficient and capable enough as is the case with Mujanović and Osmanović.

“The above not only gives us enough reasons to doubt the independence of the Serbian judiciary, but even proves its important role in relativizing roles in the war and trying to equalize responsibilities. I repeat that the judiciary of the Republic of Serbia completely wrongly and tendentiously uses its Law on Organization and Competences of Government Authorities in War Crimes Proceedings, abusing universal jurisdiction in order to prosecute BiH citizens for alleged war crimes,” said Pivić.

From the above, he believes, it can be concluded that Serbia violates bilateral agreements with BiH, as well as the basic principles of criminal justice.

“Therefore, Serbia continues the policy of its predecessors, military chiefs and statesmen who were convicted by The Hague Tribunal. The most frightening fact is that by doing so, the Serbian judiciary has put itself in the role of politics, thus preventing the achievement of the main goal and principle of criminal justice which is justice,” concluded the Deputy Minister of Justice of BiH, Nezir Pivić.

(FENA) A. B.

Vezane vijesti

Pivić: It is unacceptable for HJPC president not to show up at BiH PA sessions

Promo

M:tel: Savršena kombinacija – Huawei telefon i pametni sat s popustom

M:tel: Stiglo nam je Proljeće!

Predstava 'Kako sam se nadala dobro se nisam udala' u BKC Sarajevo