OSCE-supported panel explores challenges in war crimes processing in Bosnia and Herzegovina

NEUM, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 30 September 2016 – More than 30 prosecutors from across BiH gathered for a war crimes panel within the Ninth Symposium of Prosecutors in BiH, which was supported by the OSCE Mission to BiH and concluded today in Neum.

The panel was an opportunity for prosecutors and experts to discuss issues and exchange experiences specific to war crimes processing in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Particular focus was placed on the current state and challenges in implementation of the National Strategy for War Crimes Processing, damage compensation claims, immunity of witnesses and procedural and practical aspects of the use of video-conferencing in witness interviewing.

“The OSCE Mission to BiH focuses its rule of law activities on enhancing the capacity of judicial institutions to effectively process war crimes, human trafficking cases, hate crimes and other serious crimes,” said Francesco De-Sanctis, Head of Rule of Law of the OSCE Mission to BiH. “We remain committed to facilitating the work of national institutions in ensuring that justice is delivered fairly and efficiently.”

Federal Prosecutor Munib Halilovic, who moderated the war crimes panel, emphasized the current challenges in processing war crimes and the implementation of the National War Crimes Processing Strategy. “Unfortunately, we are still far from finalizing the war crimes cases and implementing the Strategy. Therefore we utilized this panel primarily to provide participants with insight on the present state and practices in war crimes processing and to identify training needs among prosecutors in order to increase capacity and efficiency of prosecutors' offices in processing war crimes.”

Ahmed Mesic, Prosecutor at the Central Bosnia Canton Prosecutor’s Office stressed that the Symposium of Prosecutors represents a great opportunity for prosecutors from the entire BiH to gather to discuss current issues. “The war crimes panel was an occasion for prosecutors who work on war crimes cases to present and deliberate important issues aimed to advance the effectiveness of war crimes processing, particularly of those cases that were transferred to entity level prosecutor’s offices.”   

The Ninth Symposium of Prosecutors in BiH, organized by the Federation of BiH Association of Prosecutors and two entity Judicial and Prosecutorial Training Centres, was attended by over 150 prosecutors and experts from BiH and the region.

The focus of this year’s Symposium was on corruption and organized crime, trafficking in human beings, seizure of illegally gained assets and war crimes. The war crimes panel was supported and organized by the War Crimes Capacity-Building Project implemented by the OSCE Mission to BiH and financed by the Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Austria, as well as the War Crimes Monitoring Project, which is implemented by the OSCE Mission to BiH and financed by the European Union.