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SARAJEVO, July 4 (FENA) – The High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HJPC BiH) organized a conference of the chief prosecutors of Bosnia and Herzegovina today in Sarajevo, during which they discussed the comprehensive aspects of the prosecution of war crimes cases, as well as the state and perspectives of the implementation of the Revised State Strategy for working on war crimes cases.
The conference was opened by the president of the HJPC of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Halil Lagumdžija, emphasizing its importance in terms of expert coordination on further measures to work on war crimes cases.
"The Prosecutor's Offices in BiH are obliged to focus their capacities in processing complex and priority cases of war crimes. Chief prosecutors have an obligation to ensure the highest standards of efficiency and quality," emphasized Lagumdžija.
The focus of the conference was the identification of key obstacles and needs of prosecutor's offices in processing war crimes cases, as well as proposing the necessary steps that will ensure a comprehensive approach and uniform functioning of the prosecution system in BiH.
As a priority in the processing of war crimes cases, the need for more intensive work on cases of a regional nature, improvement of the quality of indictments and more effective implementation of internal supervision of the chief prosecutor was emphasized.
In addition, the necessity of improving cooperation between prosecutorial authorities and police agencies was also discussed, with a special emphasis on defining the prerequisites for ensuring the support of the State Agency for Investigation and Protection - SIPA.
The chief prosecutors also agreed that it is necessary to improve the dynamics of court proceedings in such a way that the main hearing is conducted within seven days, in accordance with the minimum measure and standards of efficiency prescribed by the sub-legal framework of the HJPC BiH.
"The burden of prosecuting war crimes cases rests mostly on the prosecution system, which has confirmed the capacity to achieve visible results in the past years. However, additional efforts are necessary in order to bring as many perpetrators of war crimes to justice as possible and to declare the end of the criminal phase of transitional justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina," said Stefano Ellero, Head of Operations of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It was emphasized that the EU remains committed to supporting Bosnia and Herzegovina to enable justice for the victims of war crimes.
"This is our moral responsibility and there is no time limit," he concluded.
The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina monitors and reports on the proceedings in war crimes cases that are conducted before domestic courts, and on this occasion, Rebecca Aguele, head of the Rule of Law Department in the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, emphasized the urgency of action on the prosecution of war crimes.
"With almost 400 cases of war crimes with known perpetrators that have yet to be prosecuted, we are, as pointed out in the last report of the Mission, in a race against time," emphasized Aguele.
Kevin Hughes, a representative of the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism of Criminal Tribunals, assessed that twenty years after the end of the Strategy of the Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, significant steps have been made in achieving justice for victims of war crimes.
"There is still a lot of important work to be done, and the Office of the Chief Prosecutor will closely cooperate with the prosecutors in BiH in order to realize the universal demands of justice for the victims of war crimes," he added.
The conference was organized with the financial support of the European Union as part of the Project "Improving work on war crimes cases" with operational coordination with the OSCE Mission to BiH and the Prosecutor's Office of the International Residual Mechanism of the UN Criminal Tribunals, stated the HJPC BiH.
(FENA) S. R.
