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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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Dec08 - BIH
National War Crimes Strategy
Back to top2. EFFICIENCY IN THE PROSECUTION OF WAR CRIMES CASES
3. REGIONAL CO-OPERATION IN WAR CRIMES CASES
4. SUPPORT AND PROTECTION OF VICTIMS AND WITNESSES
MID-TERM BUDGETARY REQUIREMENTS
6. STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION AND SUPERVISION
In the period from 1992 to 1995, Bosnia and Herzegovina was the site of the large-scale armed conflicts characterized by severe, systematic and mass violations of the international humanitarian law,. The war consequently resulted in the loss of many lives, numerous refugees and displaced persons, a large number of people still missing and other grave violations of the fundamental human rights and freedoms. Preventing impunity and facing the events from the recent past is recognized as one of the basic preconditions for gradual reconciliation and progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina both internally and externally in the process of European integration. The first step in facing the past is the prosecution and sanctioning of persons responsible of crimes against humanity and values protected by international humanitarian law. There is a clear determination of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the international community to take a more efficient and comprehensive approach to the issue of prosecution of war crimes cases. |1| In that regard, the Security Council resolutions no. 808 of 22 February 1993 and 827 of 25 May 1993 established the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with the objective of prosecuting the perpetrators of crimes against humanity and war crimes. In light of the Resolution 1503 of 28 August 2003 on the completion of the work of the ICTY, departments for war crimes were established within the Court and the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) whose task was to continue the work on war crimes cases in accordance with the highest international standards in the areas of criminal law and protection of human rights. In addition, courts and prosecutor's offices in the entities and Brcko District also have jurisdiction for the prosecution of these cases.
Given the mass character of the committed violations of the international humanitarian law, numerous persons responsible for these violations remain at large and there are a large number of outstanding cases. The State of Bosnia and Herzegovina is faced with the lack of a comprehensive method in the process of resolving these issues.
In an attempt to come up with a systematic approach to the issue of resolving a large number of war crimes cases, which is the basic task of this Strategy, the Ministry of Justice of BiH established in September 2007 the Working Group for developing the National Strategy for war crimes and dealing with the issues related to war crimes. The judicial aspects of the issue of resolving the war crime cases are the primary focus in preparing the Strategy. The Strategy is complementary to the Justice Sector Reform Strategy adopted by the BiH Council of Ministers and will be complementary to the transitional justice strategy
1.1 RATIONALE FOR DRAFTING THE STRATEGY
a. Existence of a large number of outstanding war crimes cases that require systematic approach in order to prevent impunity and facilitate prosecution of all or at least most of the perpetrators in a reasonable period of time;
b. Lack of centralized, precise and qualitative statistical data on the number and nature of war crimes cases currently being prosecuted, which serve as indicators of the efficiency of prosecution and which are necessary for the purpose of planning investments in the human and material resources. It is extremely important that the Strategy sets up and updates a centralized record of all war crimes cases in the BiH judiciary;
c. The lack of harmonization of court practice in war crimes cases prosecuted before the courts in the entities, Brcko District and the Court of BiH. The absence of mechanisms for harmonizing the court practice on the territory of BiH in the area of war crimes, as well as the application of several criminal codes, resulted in different courts adopting opposing views on the same legal matters, both in relation to the substantive law applied to war crimes cases and the pronouncement of criminal sanctions for identical or similar criminal offenses of war crimes. This is a serious infringement on the constitutional principles of legal certainty and equality of citizens before the law;
d. Deficiencies in the management of war crimes cases as of 2003 when the new criminal legislation came into effect providing for an exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of BiH and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH over the prosecution of war crimes cases , while a large number of cases remained within jurisdiction of other courts and prosecutor's offices;
e. Inconsistent practice of the review, takeover and transfer of war crimes cases between the Court and the Prosecutor's Office and other courts and prosecutor's offices, and the lack of agreed upon criteria for the assessment of sensitivity and complexity of cases;
f. Unsatisfactory degree of co-operation on the regional level in the work on war crimes cases;
g. Insufficient support and protection of witnesses and victims in war crimes cases before the courts and prosecutor's offices across BiH.
1.2 OBJECTIVES AND ANTICIPATED RESULTS
a. Prosecute the most complex and top priority war crimes cases within 7 years and other war crimes cases within 15 years from the time of adoption of the Strategy;
b. Centralize and update at the level of the Court and Prosecutor's Office of BiH the record of all war crimes cases pending before the BiH judiciary;
c. Ensure a functional mechanism of the management of war crimes cases, that is, their distribution between the state-level judiciary and judiciaries of the entities and of Brcko District that will facilitate efficient prosecution within the set timeframe;
d. Prosecute as a priority the most responsible perpetrators before the Court of BiH, with the help of the agreed upon case selection and prioritization criteria;
e. Harmonize the court practice in war crimes cases in order to ensure legal certainty and equality of citizens before the law;
f. Strengthen the capacity of the judiciary and police in the whole of BiH to work on war crimes cases;
g. Establish a more efficient co-operation with countries in the region concerning war crimes cases for the sake of prosperity in the whole region;
h. Provide protection, support and same treatment to all victims and witnesses in the proceedings before all courts in BiH;
i. Establish an appropriate legal framework for the implementation of measures adopted in the Strategy and the accomplishment of its objectives.
This Strategy shall have no bearing on the duty of all courts and prosecutor's offices in BiH to continue their work on war crimes cases without any delay and in accordance with the existing laws. |2|
2. EFFICIENCY IN THE PROSECUTION OF WAR CRIMES CASES
This part deals with the mutually related issues, namely: data on the number of cases and their structure; what is the impact of the number and structure of cases on the use of the existing material and human resources in the judiciary and the need for future investment in these resources; management of a large number of cases in terms of their distribution between the state-level judiciary and judiciaries of the entities and of Brcko District; and harmonization of the court practice relative to the application of substantive law in war crimes cases.
The existence of centralized, precise and qualitative statistical data about the number and nature of war crimes cases currently being prosecuted is one of the necessary preconditions for the development of an efficient strategic plan that will have realistic implications on the resources. It was established that this centralized approach to the data collection and processing did not previously exist in the work on war crimes cases in BiH. There is an indisputable resolve on the part of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina to establish a centralized record of all war crimes cases pending before domestic judiciary that will be regularly updated. As a first step in realizing this objective, presented here is the table with the number of outstanding cases before the courts and prosecutor's offices in BiH up to 1 October 2008. Chart (Figure 1) shows a total number of outstanding war crimes cases (KTA-RZ, KTA-RZ, KTN-RZ) |3| pending before the Prosecutor's Office of BiH and prosecutor's offices in the Republika Srpska, Federation of BiH and Brcko District of BiH. Other charts that follow (Figures 2, 3 and 4) show the number of cases under investigation before the prosecutor's offices in BiH, the number of cases in which a first-instance or a second-instance verdict has been rendered within the last year, as well as the structure of outstanding cases, that is, the ratio between the cases under investigation and finalized cases.
Data on the number of outstanding cases (Figure 1)
Click to enlargeData on the number of KT-RZ cases under invesigation (Figure 2)
Click to enlargeData on the number of KT-RZ cases in which a first-instance of a second-instance verdict has been rendered (Figure 3)
Click to enlargeRatio between the number of cases under investigation nad finalized cases (Figure 4)
Click to enlargeAs the second step towards establishing a centralized record, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH shall, within 30 days from the date of the adoption of the Strategy, establish a centralized record of all outstanding war crimes cases in BiH, which will be regularly updated. The record will contain all the necessary information about the number and structure of cases to help a more efficient and complete implementation of measures from this Strategy, especially the distribution of cases between the courts and prosecutor's offices in BiH. |4| The implementation of other measures adopted in the Strategy will not depend on the development and finalization of the work on establishing the record. Centralized record is a strategic measure that is meant to reinforce the implementation of other measures defined in the Strategy. The Prosecutor's Office of BiH will ensure both permanent human and material resources for a continuous work on the centralized record. All prosecutor's offices in BiH will regularly submit reports on war crimes cases to the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.
The Court of BiH will keep a centralized and updated record on the number of confirmed indictments, first instance and final verdicts rendered in war crimes cases before the courts in BiH as of 1 March 2003, that is, since the time the Court of BiH has subject-matter jurisdiction over war crimes cases. In that regard, courts in BiH will, within 30 days from the date of the adoption of the Strategy, submit to the Court of BiH the data on war crimes cases pending before those courts and report regularly to the Court of BiH about war crimes cases, that is, about confirmed/amended indictments and rendered first instance and second instance verdicts.
Given all the complexity of the issue of jurisdiction over war crimes cases, difficulties were identified in finding a functional mechanism for the distribution of cases between the Court and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH and other courts and prosecutor's offices that beyond any doubt need to continue the work on a large number of these cases. Defining a functional mechanism is a necessary step to relieve the capacity of the Court and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH for them to be able to focus on the prosecution of the top priority and most complex cases. This will also ensure maximum use of the existing human and infrastructure capacity of all courts and prosecutor's offices in the country.
With respect to the structure of war crimes cases, it is necessary to distinguish between two groups of cases:
I. group includes war crimes cases that were received to be worked on following the entry into force of the new criminal legislation on 1 March 2003. All such cases, in accordance with the law, fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH and can be transferred to other courts and prosecutor's offices only in accordance with Article 27 of the Criminal Procedure Code of BiH (BiH CPC) (by transfer of jurisdiction). Up until 1 October 2008, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH had 565 such cases on the record.
II. group, including most of the outstanding cases, includes war crimes cases that were received to be worked on by the courts and prosecutor's offices in the entities and Brcko District of BiH before the entry into force of the BiH CPC in 2003, in which the indictment did not take legal effect, that is, it was not confirmed. These courts and prosecutor's offices are obliged to complete these cases unless the Court of BiH decides to take over such a case. Up until 1 October 2008, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH had 146 such cases taken over by the Decision of the Court of BiH on the record, whereas the prosecutor's offices in the entities and Brcko District had a total of 1070 of such cases (See the Table showing the number of cases from group I and II, Figure 5).
Institution Group I cases
up to 1 October 2008Group II cases
up to 1 October 2008Prosecutor's Office of BiH 565 146 Prosecutor's offices in the entities and Brcko District 1070
(Figure 5)There is a clear resolve on the part of the State of BiH that the most complex war crimes cases from both of these groups be prosecuted before the Court and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH and that the cases deemed to be less complex be prosecuted before the cantonal or district courts and prosecutor's offices of the entities and the Basic Court and Prosecutor's Office of Brcko District of BiH. The criteria agreed upon and outlined in Annex A of the Strategy shall be used when evaluating the complexity of cases, based on which cases will then be distributed between the Court/Prosecutor's Office of BiH and other courts/prosecutor's offices.
I Cases from group I will be ceded/transferred in such a way that the Prosecutor's Office of BiH files to the Court of BiH a proposal for the transfer of conduct of proceedings, and then the Court makes a decision on transfer based on the agreed upon case complexity criteria. The Prosecutor's Office of BiH will, at the earliest possible stage of the proceedings, apply the agreed upon case complexity criteria and based on them file to the Court a proposal for the transfer of conduct of proceedings.
A decision of the Court of BiH on the transfer of conduct of proceedings may entail obligation of the court or the prosecutor's office to which the case is being transferred to apply in the proceedings the substantive law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which prescribes crimes against humanity and values protected by international law.
The existing legal mechanism for the transfer of cases set out in Article 27 of the BiH CPC proved inefficient for the transfer of less complex war crimes cases. Although Article 27 provides for the possibility of the Court of BiH to transfer conduct of the proceedings for a criminal offense that falls within its jurisdiction to other courts if there are "strong reasons", it was rarely applied in practice due to different interpretations of the legal standard "strong reasons". Therefore, it is necessary to significantly modify and adapt it for the purpose of the distribution of war crimes cases among the courts in BiH.
In view of the above, immediately upon the adoption of the Strategy, provisions of the BiH CPC on the transfer of conduct of the proceedings in war crimes cases will be amended in an urgent procedure in order to create an efficient mechanism to be applied in the cases of transfer of less complex cases to the entity prosecutor's offices and courts. Another matter to be considered is potential introduction of Article 27a concerning the transfer of conduct of the proceedings exclusively in war crimes cases, which will incorporate the following criteria for transfer:
a) instead of the existing standard ..strong reasons", explicitly allow for the possibility of the transfer of less complex war crimes cases to other courts and prosecutor's offices by applying the criteria agreed upon between the Court and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH;
b) explicitly allow for the possibility that the Prosecutor's Office of BiH proposes to the Court of BiH to transfer conduct of the proceedings in the investigation stage and not only after filing of the indictment;
c) provide a mechanism to be used by the Court of BiH for monitoring all war crimes cases transferred from its original jurisdiction for the purpose of harmonizing court practice on the issue of the application of substantive law to war crimes offenses.
The Ministry of Justice of BiH shall establish within 15 days a working group to include representatives of the Court of BiH and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH with a task to draft proposed amendments to the existing legislation in order to ensure the implementation of the objectives set above. The working group is obliged to submit the proposed amendments within 15 days following its establishment.
In order to put in motion an efficient mechanism of oversight and supervision of cases transferred by the Court of BiH from its original jurisdiction, the courts and prosecutor's offices to which the Court of BiH transferred conduct of the proceedings will regularly report to the Court of BiH on the course of the proceedings, including: confirmation/amendment of the indictment and the rendering of the first instance and second instance verdicts.
Immediately upon the adoption of the Strategy, the Prosecutor's Office of Bih shall submit to the Court of BiH the report on Group I cases (Annex B of the Strategy) containing sufficient information for the Court of BiH to be able to have insight into the number and complexity of these cases, so as to plan the capacity required for a trial and potential rendering of a decision on transfer of conduct of the proceedings in accordance with Article 27 of the BiH CPC.
II A large portion of the total number of outstanding war crimes cases belong to the second group of cases that were received to be worked on by the courts and prosecutor's offices in BiH before the entry into force of the new criminal legislation in March 2003. Some of these cases were previously subject to the assessment of their sensitivity by the Prosecutor's Office of BiH. For a certain number of cases from group II deemed as .very sensitive", the Prosecutor's Office of BiH filed to the Court of BiH a proposal for takeover in accordance with Article 449, paragraph 2 of the BiH CPC, whereas the cases deemed as .sensitive", as well as the cases that have not been reviewed by the Prosecutor's Office of BiH are currently being worked on by the cantonal and district courts and prosecutor's offices and the court and prosecutor's office of Brcko District.
According to Article 449, paragraph 2 of the BiH CPC, the courts with territorial jurisdiction are obliged to finalize these cases unless the Court of BiH decides to take over such a case. According to the currently available information, there were a total of 1216 such cases up until 1 October 2008. Out of this number the Court of BiH decided on 161 requests for takeover in accordance with Article 449, paragraph 2 and in 136 cases made a decision on takeover.
However, Article 449 of the BiH CPC does not entail an explicit obligation of the courts and prosecutor's offices to report to the Court of BiH on the cases that at the time of entry into force of the law were pending before these courts and prosecutor's offices. For this reason the Court of BiH, except for 161 requests for takeover, did not have insight into a large number of cases and hence it could not even consider their potential takeover ex officio in accordance with Article 449, paragraph 2, that is, it could take over cases only upon the proposal of the parties. Therefore, there is a possibility that a certain number of more complex cases that should be prosecuted before the Court of BiH is currently pending before the entity courts and prosecutor's offices and the court and prosecutor's office of Brcko District.
Accordingly, immediately after the adoption of the Strategy the entity prosecutor's offices, Prosecutor's Office of Brcko District as well as the Prosecutor's Office of BiH will submit to the Court of BiH a report on cases (Annex B of this Strategy) that will contain sufficient information for the Court of BiH to have insight into the number and degree of complexity of these cases for the purpose of potentially making a decision ex officio in accordance with Article 449, paragraph 2.
The provision of Article 449 of the BiH CPC on takeover of war crimes cases should be amended in an urgent procedure in order to allow for the application of case complexity criteria in the same manner as is the case with the transfer of conduct of the proceedings.
In order for the selection and assessment of complexity of cases to be done in a uniform and objective manner, informing the process of making a decision on the takeover or transfer of a case, the Court and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, with the participation of the RS Prosecutor's Office, FBiH Prosecutor's Office, the RS Supreme Court, the Prosecutor's Office of Brcko District BiH the FBiH Supreme Court, the Appellate Court of Brcko District BiH and assisted by the ICTY, drafted the agreed upon Case Complexity Criteria incorporating the standards that are a result of the practice of international criminal courts. These Criteria are integral part of the Strategy and are outlined in Annex A.
The Court and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH shall hold regular meetings aimed at ensuring consistent application of the agreed upon criteria.
Harmonization of court practice
The State of Bosnia and Herzegovina is obliged to provide to its citizens legal certainty on its territory, which is a constituent element of the principle of rule of law in a democratic society. Over the last 15 years, which is the period of time in which the proceedings against perpetrators of war crimes have been conducted, an inconsistent court practice developed as a result of the application of different substantive regulations and opposing interpretations of temporal application of the law. There were significant discrepancies in the proceedings as to the legal qualification of identical or similar offenses committed during the war, as well as uneven sentencing and pronouncement of criminal sanctions for these offenses, which jeopardized the principle of legal certainty and equality of citizens before the law.
In the case number AP 1785/06 Decision dated 30 March 2007, the Constitutional Court of BiH ruled that the court practice in war crimes cases required urgent harmonization. The importance of this Decision lies in the principled position of the Constitutional Court of BiH on justifiability of the application of the existing Criminal Code of BiH in the prosecution and punishment of war crimes offenses based on Article 4a) and Article 7(2) of the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and obligation of the entity courts to follow the practice of the Court of BiH in relation to these cases.
With the objective of ensuring a harmonized court practice and respect for the principle of equality of citizens before the law, Article 13 of the Law on the Court of BiH, as well as the laws on courts of the entities and Brcko District, shall be amended to include regular joint sessions of the Department for War Crimes -Appellate Division of the Court of BiH, the entity Supreme Courts and the Appellate Court of Brcko District where joint positions would be taken exclusively in relation to war crimes cases. The positions taken would be a result of the exchange of legal views from the final court decisions and although not binding, they could serve as guidelines to the courts when acting upon cases with similar facts and circumstances. In addition, harmonization of the court practice will also be facilitated by decisions of the Court of BiH on the transfer of cases, in which the court or prosecutor's office to which proceedings are being transferred may be obliged to apply the substantive law of Bosnia and Herzegovina therein.
By applying the existing provision contained in Article 13 of the Law on the Court of BiH, the Court of BiH shall issue binding directions containing the Court's interpretation in relation to the applicable substantive law in war crimes cases.
Also, for the sake of harmonization of court practice, the entity courts and the court of Brcko District will attempt when trying the war crimes cases to follow the case law of the Court of BiH, and whenever possible to apply the provisions of the Law on the Transfer of Cases from the ICTY to the Prosecutor's Office of BiH and the Use of Evidence Collected by ICTY in Proceedings Before the Court in BiH, particularly the provision that allows for the possibility of accepting as proven facts established in the legally binding decisions of the ICTY. When investigating the war crimes cases, prosecutor's offices in the entities and in Brcko District will also use the analytical and legal support of the ICTY and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.
The available analyses and assessments of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH identified limitations in terms of the human and material-technical resources of the judicial system and police structures for the prosecution of war crimes. Figures 6, 7 and 8 show tables on human resources in the courts, prosecutor's office and police bodies in BiH.
Human resources of the prosecutor's offices for the work on war crimes cases (Figure 6)
Name of the prosecutor's office Total number of prosecutors Number of prosecutors working on war crimes cases War Crimes Department Total number of legal officers Number of legal officers working on war crimes cases Number of investigators working on war crimes cases Prosecutor's Office of BiH 37 9 x 24 9 4 FBiH Prosecutor's Office 9 9 0 0 0 RS Prosecutor's Office 4 3 x 0 0 0 Public Prosecutor's Office of Brcko District of BiH 8 6 It will commence operation on 1 November 2008 2 0 0 Una-Sana Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 19 2 x 1 0 0 Posavina Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 2 0 1 0 0 Prosecutor's Office of Tuzla Canton 35 4 x 1 1 0 Prosecutor's Office of Zenica-Doboj Canton 24 4 x 0 0 0 Bosnia-Podrinje Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 2 2 0 0 0 Central Bosnia Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 14 4 x 1 0 0 Herzegovina-Neretva Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 18 4 x 1 0 0 West Herzegovina Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 4 0 0 0 0 Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton 40 7 x 9 0 0 Prosecutor's Office of Livno Canton 5 5 1 0 0 District Prosecutor's Office in Banja Luka 35 1 x 1 0 0 District Prosecutor's Office in Bijeljina 11 2 x 2 0 0 District Prosecutor's Office in Doboj 14 3 x 3 3 0 District Prosecutor's Office in Trebinje 5 5 x As of 1 November 2008, one legal officer will commence his/her service 0 0 District Prosecutor's Office in East Sarajevo 10 1 x 1 1 0 Human resources of the courts for the work on war crimes cases (Figure 7)
Name of the court Number of judges in the Criminal Division Number of judges working on war crimes cases War Crimes Department Number of legal officers in the Criminal Division Number of legal officers working on war crimes cases Court of BiH 40+1 (President of the Court) 24 (18 judges acting in the first instance and 6 judges in the Appellate Division) x 40 16 FBiH Supreme Court 7 7 0 0 RS Supreme Court 7 2 (In general, war crimes cases may be assigned to any judge in the Criminal Division) 0 0 Appellate Court of Brcko District of BiH Criminal Division has not been established 2 0 0 Cantonal Court in Bihac 4 1 0 0 Cantonal Court in Odzak 3 0 (The Court does not have any war crimes cases before it) 0 0 Cantonal Court in Tuzla 5 2 0 0 Cantonal Court in Zenica 4 4 1 0 Cantonal Court in Gorazde 4 0 (The Court does not have any war crimes cases before it) 0 0 Cantonal Court in Novi Travnik 3 3 0 0 Cantonal Court in Mostar 2 2 0 0 Cantonal Court in Siroki Brijeg 2 0 (The Court does not have any war crimes cases before it) 0 0 Cantonal Court in Sarajevo 7 7 2 0 Cantonal Court in Livno 4 4 0 0 District Court in Banja Luka 7 2 0 0 District Court in Bijeljina 4 (The Court does not have any war crimes cases before it) 0 0 District Court in Doboj 4 0 (The Court does not have any war crimes cases before it) 1 0 District Court in Trebinje 5 (One judge specializes in criminal cases and other judges participate in the work of the criminal panel whenever required) 1 0 0 District Court in East Sarajevo 3 1 (In general, war crimes cases may be assigned to any judge in the Criminal Division, in addition to one judge assigned to work on war crimes cases) 0 0 Basic Court in Brcko District of BiH 3 War crimes cases may be assigned to any judge in the Criminal Division 0 0 Human resources of the police bodies for the work on war crimes cases (Figure 8)
Name of the police body Organizational unit (name) Number of police officers assigned to work on war crimes cases in the systematization of posts Number of filled-in position of police officers assigned to work on war crimes cases -current situation Number of police officers assigned to work on the protection of witnesses State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) Centre for Investigation of War Crimes and Crimes Punishable under International War and Humanitarian Law Crime Police inspectors 91
Civil servants 8
Employees 7Crime Police inspectors 59
Civil servants 7
Employees 6Systemized 32/ filled-in 24
(Crime Police inspectors 25/19
Civil servants 5/ 3
Employees 2/2)PSC Banja Luka War Crimes Investigations Department Head of Department 1
Crime Police inspectors 8Head of Department 1
Crime Police inspectors 8PSC Doboj War Crimes Investigations Section Head of Section 1
Crime Police inspectors 4Head of Section 1
Crime Police inspectors 4PSC Bijeljina War Crimes Investigations Section Head of Section 1
Crime Police inspectors 4Head of Section 1
Crime Police inspectors 4PSC Istocno Sarajevo War Crimes Investigations Department Head of Department 1
Crime Police inspectors 5Head of Department 1
Crime Police inspectors 4PSC Trebinje War Crimes Investigations Section Head of Section 1
Crime Police inspectors 2Head of Section 0
Crime Police inspectors 1Sarajevo Canton Mol -Sarajevo Section for Violent Crimes, Sexual Offenses and War Crimes |5| Head of Section 1
Inspectors 2
Junior inspectors 6
Senior sergeants 2Head of Section 0
Inspectors 0
Junior inspectors 1
Senior sergeants 1Tuzla Canton Mol - Tuzla General Crimes Department |6| Head of Department 1
Inspectors 1
Junior inspectors 4
Senior sergeants 2Police officers 4 Una-Sana Canton MoI -Bihac War Crimes Department Head of Department 1
Inspectors 2
Junior inspectors 2Head of Department 1
Inspectors 2
Senior sergeants 1Herzegovina-Neretva Canton MoI - Mostar General Crime Prevention and Detection Division |7| Zenica-Doboj Canton MoI -Zenica Section for Investigation of Crimes against Humanity and Values Protected by International Law Head of Section 1
Senior inspectors 1
Inspectors 3
Junior inspectors 3Head of Section 1
Senior inspectors 0
Inspectors 3
Junior inspectors 0West Herzegovina Canton MoI - Ljubuski |8| Central Bosnia MoI - Travnik War Crimes Division |9| Head of Section 1
Inspectors 4
Junior inspectors 3Head of Section 0
Inspectors 0
Junior inspectors 1Canton Livno MoI - Livno General Crimes Section Team Leader 1
Inspector 1
Junior inspector 1Crime investigator 1 Posavina Canton MoI -Orasje Investigations Division |10| Head of Section Inspectors 1
Junior inspectors 3Bosnia-Podrinje Canton MoI - Gorazde Criminal Investigations Department Inspectors 2 |11| Police of Brcko District of BiH Team for Crimes against Humanity and Values Protected by International Law Investigators 6
Police officers 2Federation of BiH MoI War Crimes Section Head of Section 1
Investigators 4
Analyst 1By combining the data shown in the tables with the data related to the number of cases, the following results were obtained pertaining to the existing human resources for the conduct of investigations and trials (see Figures 9 and 10).
Existing resources for investigations in war crimes cases (Figure 9)
KT - investigations KTA cases Relevant police body Judiciary Case Persons Foreseen Staffed Prosecutors Legal officers Prosecutor's Office of BiH 410 1151 870 106 72 18 9 (+ 4 investigators) Tuzla Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 34 516 318 8 4 4 1 Bihac Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 74 258 463 5 4 2 0 Orasje Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 0 0 88 5 0 0 Livno Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 15 98 3 3 1 5 0 Gorazde Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 1 1 31 2 2 0 Siroki Brijeg Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 0 0 0 Travnik Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 22 278 0 8 1 4 0 Zenica Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 10 125 67 8 4 4 0 Mostar Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 51 503 125 4 0 Sarajevo Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 80 1290 488 11 2 7 0 Public Prosecutor's Office of Brcko District 25 198 7 8 6 0 District Prosecutor's Office in Bijeljina 28 103 8 5 5 2 0 District Prosecutor's Office in Banja Luka 10 55 153 9 9 1 0 District Prosecutor's Office in Doboj 428 514 69 5 5 3 3 District Prosecutor's Office in Trebinje 27 267 0 3 1 5 0 District Prosecutor's Office in Istocno Sarajevo 70 538 2 6 5 1 1 TOTAL 1285 5895 2692 179 126 59 14 Existing resources for trials in war crimes cases (Figure 10)
Prosecutor's offices- resources Courts- resources Prosecutors Legal officers Judges Legal officers Prosecutor's Office of BiH 18 9 Court of BiH 24 16 FBiH Prosecutor's Office 9 0 RS Supreme Court 7 0 RS Prosecutor's Office 3 0 FBiH Supreme Court 2 0 Public Prosecutor's Office of Brcko District of BiH 6 0 Appellate Court of Brcko District of BiH 2 0 Una-Sana Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 2 0 Cantonal Court in Bihac 1 0 Posavina Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 0 0 Cantonal Court in Odzak 0 0 Prosecutor's Office of Tuzla Canton 4 1 Cantonal Court in Tuzla 2 0 Prosecutor's Office of Zenica-Doboj Canton 4 0 Cantonal Court in Zenica 4 0 Bosnia-Podrinje Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 2 0 Cantonal Court in Gorazde 0 0 Central Bosnia Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 4 0 Cantonal Court in Novi Travnik 3 0 Herzegovina-Neretva Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 4 0 Cantonal Court in Mostar 2 0 West Herzegovina Cantonal Prosecutor's Office 0 0 Cantonal Court in Siroki Brijeg 0 0 Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton 7 0 Cantonal Court in Sarajevo 7 0 Prosecutor's Office of Livno Canton 5 0 Cantonal Court in Livno 4 0 District Prosecutor's Office in Banja Luka 1 0 District Court in Banja Luka 2 0 District Prosecutor's Office in Bijeljina 2 0 District Court in Bijeljina 0 0 District Prosecutor's Office in Doboj 3 3 District Court in Doboj 0 0 District Prosecutor's Office in Trebinje 5 0 District Court in Trebinje 1 0 District Prosecutor's Office in Istocno Sarajevo 1 1 District Court in Istocno Sarajevo 1 0 Basic Court in Brcko District of BiH War crimes cases are assigned to all judges sitting on the criminal division 0
With respect to the number of cases under investigation (410), the above statistics show that the only two bodies with human resources sufficient for the prosecution of war crimes cases are the Prosecutor's Office of BiH and SIPA, which also have the required support in terms of sufficient number of legal officers, advisors and investigators. Given the number of outstanding cases under investigation (875 cases), the capacities of other prosecutor's offices, and the police bodies in the entities are substantially lower than those of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, for only a small number of legal officers work on war crimes cases, and the human resources in the police bodies, both in terms of the positions foreseen and those staffed are substantially lesser in number than those available to SIPA.
A similar situation is found with trial capacities. The comparison of data obtained at different levels shows marked negative discrepancy in human resources of the courts and prosecutor's offices of the entities compared with those of the Court and the Prosector's Office of BiH, where the current number of judges, prosecutors and legal officers can meet the prosecution dynamics given the current number of war crimes cases (711 cases at the state-level).
What is required is constant and planned investments in material and human resources, because the existing capacities of the judiciary at a general level can hardly meet the demands of a significantly larger number of prosecutions. Most of the courts are not equipped with proper courtrooms; the prosecutor's offices do not have adequate rooms for parallel interviews or a sufficient number of lock-up rooms. In the organizational structure of most district/cantonal courts and prosecutor's offices, as well as police bodies, there are no special departments for war crimes, nor is there a sufficient number of legal officers and advisors, that is, investigators who would assist the judges and prosecutors in the work on war crimes cases. Material resources of relevant police bodies that need to support the judiciary is also limited in terms of resources and technical equipment available to them.
Financial potential of the state and the entities is limited. Funds are projected and based on the development plans and none of these development plans included investments for the work on war crimes cases. There are no financial plans that would include costs of the proceedings, costs of the ex officio defense, and witness and expert-witness costs, that will increase proportionately to the increase in the number of cases prosecuted. The costs of detention and costs of serving the criminal sanction will also see a proportional increase.
An additional problem in terms of the effective use of human resources lies in the lack of specialized education in the area of domestic and international criminal and humanitarian law.
Finally, judges and prosecutors are not adequately evaluated for their work on complex and long-lasting war crimes cases. Their performance is evaluated according to the set norms that apply generally to all types of criminal offenses, without taking into consideration the criterion of complexity, length and specific nature of war crimes cases.
Based on a financial assessment of the costs and dynamics of war crimes cases completed thus far, HJPC shall, in cooperation with relevant ministries and in joint undertaking with courts and prosecutor's offices and relevant police bodies, propose financial investments in material and human resources of judicial and police bodies, in order to successfully prosecute war crimes within the deadline of 15 years (7 years for the top priority cases), as envisaged by the Strategy.
By using the above-mentioned financial cost-effectiveness projections for war crimes cases, the existing organizational structures of courts, prosecutor's offices and relevant police bodies shall be reviewed, and in those entity courts and prosecutor's offices where no separate departments for war crimes existed, such departments will be set up.
Where necessary, working posts shall be forseen in organizational structures of courts and prosecutor's offices for legal officers, legal advisors and potentially investigators who will assist in the work on war crimes cases. In all courts and prosecutor's offices a sufficient number of legal officers and advisors, that is, investigators, shall be recruited so as to increase efficiency in the prosecution of war crimes cases according to the defined time frames.
Ministries of justice, Judicial Commision of Brcko District and ministries of finance, in cooperation with HJPC and other relevant bodies shall ensure necessary material-technical resources indispensable for the work of courts, prosecutor's offices and police bodies on war crimes cases, including the resources required for implementation of witness protection and support measures, as well as additional resources for the work of the established departments for war crimes.
In order to ensure high standards in the prosecution of war crimes in BiH, the HJPC will design and implement a program of specialized education of judges and prosecutors. In co-operation with the judicial education centers, educational programs in the area of substantive and procedural laws relevant for war crimes cases will be created, which will include training on the ICTY jurisprudence, as well as practical experience from other jurisdictions.
HJPC will change the existing quota system for the evaluation of performance of judges and prosecutors, which is currently an obstacle for the efficient prosecution of war crimes.
Open questions in the field of regional cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Serbia, Republic of Croatia and Republic of Montenegro pose challenges in achieving better efficiency in conducting investigations and bringing indictments against persons charged with war crimes. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a specific position in the region when compared to other jurisdictions: a largest number of possible investigations and indictments; unresolved war crimes cases often include very complex legal and factual matters or a large number of witnesses and victims mainly residing in or with strong personal relationships with BiH. Also, judicial bodies from neighboring states conduct criminal proceedings in some cases although the crime was committed in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina which is where the majority of evidence and witnesses are.
Efficient regional cooperation is particularly important for war crimes cases as almost each of such cases entails a regional aspect (pertaining to the place of perpetration, location of evidence, whereabouts of victims , witnesses, suspects or accused, or where the proceedings is conducted, and similar). The absence of a legal framework for regional cooperation, such as the ban on extradition of citizens or not allowing access to case files and evidence from other states, has negative implications on establishment of a mechanism at a regional level that would ensure successful conduct of criminal proceedings, collection of evidence such as witnesses' statements and forensic reports, that is, improvement of the witness protection program.
In 2005, inter-state agreements on cooperation were signed between chief prosecutors of Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in an attempt to resolve complex and frequently slow bureaucratic procedures of providing international legal assistance in criminal matters by simplifying the procedure of exchange of evidence and other information in organized crime and war crimes cases. The implementation of these agreements showed that the exchange of information and evidence between the judicial bodies of BiH, Croatia Serbia and Montenegro is possible.
These positive steps forward were, however, limited as the established cooperation mechanisms did not adequately resolve the matter of transferring war crimes cases when there is a case of plurality of criminal prosecutions and extraditions of citizens in case of dual citizenship because of clear constitutional and legal limitations in the extradition of own citizens which, in essence, prompted the whole process of regional cooperation.
The Ministry of Justice of BiH, in cooperation with the Court and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, will expedite the activities related to the adoption of the Proposal of the Law on International Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.
The Ministry of Justice will produce a manual for international legal assistance in criminal matters with practical examples and templates that would ensure a consistent implementation of this law.
The Court and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, with the assistance of international organizations in BiH, shall initiate periodical meetings with delegations of representatives of prosecutor's offices and courts from the region to strengthen the mechanisms of regional judicial cooperation in criminal proceedings conducted in the war crimes cases. These meetings would be the opportunity to discuss provisions of existing bilateral and other agreements, and to identify and produce proposals of solutions in relation to:
- transfer of cases at any stage of the proceedings, including the investigation stage;
- extradition of own citizens in case of dual citizenship, that is, developing a mechanism to ensure efficient cooperation in relation to extradition proceedings (possibility of transferring the case to the accused's country of the origin);
- development of a centralized data base at a regional level that would ensure access to information related to the war crimes cases and evidence;
- development and adoption of framework decisions about the arrest orders and orders for submitting evidence at the regional level, modeled on the solutions developed by the European Union;
- harmonization of constitutional and legal provisions in the countries in the region in the field of transfer of cases, extraditions, and international legal assistance in criminal matters on reciprocal basis;
- protection of witnesses and their families, and the witness protection program (change of identity and relocation of witnesses as an ultimate protection measure);
- cooperation with ICTY;
- matters related to the ICTY archives and legacy as a rich and valuable collection of evidence, jurisprudence, and other educational material for war crimes cases.
On the basis of the proposal of judicial bodies, the governments and ministries of justice of the countries in the region will have to adopt amendments to the existing instruments and to enter into new bilateral and multilateral agreements in the field of regional cooperation. These agreements should include the possibility of subsidiary application of the European Convention on Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, European Convention on the Transfer of Proceedings in Criminal Matters and the European Convention on Extradition, and reflect the Principles of International Cooperation in detection, arrest, extradition and punishment of persons guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
4. VICTIMS AND WITNESSES PROTECTION AND SUPPORT
Witnesses are a most significant and most widely used means of evidence used in the courts of BiH in the war crimes cases. Considering the role of witnesses in conducting the trials and the outcome of war crimes cases, which is at times of crucial importance for successful finalization of the case, it is very important to create an atmosphere in which witnesses will give evidence free of fear or threats or pressures that may pose a threat to their lives or lives of people close to them. Accordingly, this Strategy must identify problems and suggest solutions that would improve protection and support for witnesses and victims before, during and after trials which, in turn, would contribute to war crimes trials and by that the interests of the justice and fairness.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is a legal framework regulating the field of protection of witnesses and the procedure of ordering and implementing the measures of protection. The laws on the protection of witnesses under threat and vulnerable witnesses have been adopted at the levels of BiH, the entities and Brcko District. A separate law defining the authorities of the State Investigations and Protection Agency (the Law on the Witness Protection Program in BiH) has been adopted and is applied only at the state level. Further, there are a number of conventions and international instruments that bind BiH to ensure efficient protection of witnesses from various forms of intimidation, that is, threat for bodily integrity, life and health, and providing all measures of protection and support to the families of the witnesses and persons close to them.
The practice and analysis of prosecution of war crimes cases thus far show that the Court of BiH mainly orders such measures of protection that are applied during the proceedings (testifying via technical means for transferring image and sound) which do not come under the SIPA Witness Protection Program. The Court of BiH has full capacities for the implementation of these measures.
The organizational structure of the SIPA Witness Protection Section is adjusted for tasks and assignments related to the protection of witnesses. The unit is 80% staffed with inadequate working premises, which requires additional boosting of technical capacities. There is a need for more extensive and high-quality education and training of the staff performing tasks and assignments of offering assistance under the Law on the Witness Protection Program.
Still, the key problem in this field has been identified at cantonal and district courts where the courts, due to poor capacities and lack of adequate rooms and technical conditions, often fail to arrange that witnesses testify in accordance with the entity laws on protection of witnesses. The entities have no adequate legal framework or specialized police or other structures to enforce the protection measures for witnesses as ordered by a court, as it has been established at the state level via SIPA.
Lack of sustainable source of financing in extremely complex cases, requiring granting of special protective measures to a witness, relocation of a witness abroad and change of his/her identity, represents one of the greatest challenges to efficient implementation of witness protection measures and witness protection programs at all levels.
Very often problems are encountered with witnesses giving evidence in several criminal proceedings, when they are granted various protective measures that are not adequate and proportional to the actual risk and threat, which increases the risk of unauthorized disclosure of protected information, and causes other negative consequences for the security of the witnesses and their families.
Due to the foregoing, the legislation and by-laws in the field of witness protection will be revised in order to clarify the competencies, actions, and procedural steps of all those participating in the process of protection, that is:
Activities to adopt the proposed Law on Witness Protection Program, which was sent to the parliamentary procedure in July 2008, will be expedited.
Once the Law is adopted, organizational structure of the Witness Protection Department in the State Investigations and Protection Agency will change, it will be additionally staffed and equipped with material and technical resources, and basic and specialized training and education of officers in the field of witness protection will be organized and provided.
On the model of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of BiH, which provides for an adequate use of protective measures foreseen by the law, entity and Brcko District courts will as soon as possible adopt the necessary bylaws prescribed by the entity witness protection laws.
Prosecutor's offices and courts will during the investigation, that is, court proceedings, apply provisions on the joinder of proceedings in war crime cases that are linked in terms of facts and law. Cases will be grouped in order to avoid repeated summoning of witnesses to give evidence on identical circumstances. In proceedings before courts in BiH, attempts will be made to avoid summoning witnesses who have already given evidence at ICTY if it is possible to find another witness with credibility and direct knowledge about the same circumstances, and who was not summoned before, or was not summoned often.
Coordination will be improved, as well as exchange of information between the courts and the prosecutor's offices, on application of measures in cases when one witness gives evidence before different courts and prosecutor's offices in BiH, in order to prevent unauthorized disclosure of protected information on the witness's identity and other information.
In order to implement the measure of relocation of witnesses outside the borders of BiH, bilateral and multilateral agreements will be signed with the countries of destination and additional funds will be secured for this purpose.
4.2. VICTIM AND WITNESS SUPPORT
Effective witness and victim support program in war crimes cases is necessary for the successful conduct of such criminal proceedings. In most cases, witnesses in war crime cases are victims themselves, or members of families of the victims and the missing persons, who fall into the risk group of persons subject to emotional reactions when testifying. It is necessary to provide support to witnesses and build capacities in this field, which will also facilitate proceedings involving numerous other criminal offences.
Witness Support Section of the Court of BiH is currently the only witness and victim support unit in BiH. It offers administrative, organizational, and psychological support to witnesses, and its aim is to make the experience of testifying as painless as possible and having no consequences for the witnesses' mental health.
District/cantonal courts in BiH and the Basic Court of the Brcko District of BiH do not have witness support sections. Contacts with NGOs showed that there is some sort of witness support at the entity level, but only through two non-governmental organizations and with no coordination with courts and prosecutor's offices, or support by the ministries of justice.
Previous experience in providing witness and victim support showed that there was need for a certain type of psychological support to the foregoing group to be provided in the investigation too, with special emphasis on the support while giving a statement.
In order to strengthen the witness support in proceedings conducted before district/cantonal courts and prosecutor's offices, a network of witness and victim support at the level of entire BiH will be created and developed. Witness Support Section of the Court of BiH will play a key role in coordinating activities and will serve as a model for other offices. In order to establish this support network, capacities of local nongovernmental organizations that provide psycho-social support or are already professionally working with victims and witnesses, will be used. Staffing capacities of the Centers for Social Affairs, that is, centers for mental health, which will also be used for this purpose, will be advanced.
Within the support network, regional offices for witness and victim support, which will cover courts from a certain region, will be established. Non-governmental organizations and entities that can provide such type of support will be identified for the purpose of implementing this measure. Courts will appoint coordinators who will cooperate with the regional witness support offices.
In order to ensure equal treatment of witnesses, Witness Support Section of the Court of BiH will provide professional support in the process of establishment of regional offices, training, and education of staff and cooperation on witness issues.
In every court, separate room for witnesses and support staff during testimony will be provided, in order to give necessary psychological assistance and limit the witness's exposure to unnecessary contacts with public.
Psychologist who will provide psychological support to the vulnerable witnesses when giving statement during investigation and entire proceedings will be engaged in the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, as well as the cantonal/district prosecutor's offices and the courts.
The implementation of the Strategy has financial implications for a large number of institutions with competencies in the justice and law enforcement sectors. This chapter points to difficulties in the process of financial planning and investment in the human and material resources that are required for the accomplishment of strategic measures, implications that the Strategy will have on mid-term budgets of the relevant institutions and proposes the method for securing the funds for the implementation of the strategy.
All fourteen governments with competencies in the justice sector and in the police bodies in BiH introduced a new system of budget planning. The innovated system and budgeting process is being applied for four years already on the level of BiH, the Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska, whereas in Brcko District and the ten cantons, this budgeting system was introduced two years ago.
According to the new budgeting system, most of the budget planning takes place in the first half of the year up until 30 June, in which period all governments make projections as to the revenue forecasts and general fiscal strategy, decide on budgeting limitations for each budgetary user for the next three years and approve the Framework Budget Document (FBD). In addition, all budgetary users are obliged to submit all the relevant information in a specially designed programming format.
Fourteen governments with competencies in the justice sector and in the management of police bodies in BiH have finalized the process of planning and development of FBD for the period 2009-2011, hence putting in place a framework to be used by each government as the basis for deciding on the annual budget. FDB that was approved in 2008 is a guideline for meeting the budgeting projections in the next three years.
With respect to the implementation of the Strategy, FBD - with its focus on the existing projections in terms of spending in the justice sector as a whole, gives an overview of projected costs for the prosecution of all criminal cases, including war crimes cases.
All institutions that are to work on the implementation of the Strategy will explain in detail their financial needs supported by concrete indicators in order to achieve objectives set in the Strategy. If they are to achieve the expected results, these institutions need to have access to the higher levels of financing. The accomplishment of this goal will be a serious challenge in the forthcoming period and will have implications on the next budget cycle (the period 2010-2012) that will be initiated in the first half of 2009.
From all the above, one can make two basic observations that largely portray the current financial aspect of the problem dealt with by the Strategy:
1. There are no separate accounting and budgeting items for the resources used for war crimes cases, which is why it is not possible to develop a financial framework that would indicate the resources allocated on the annual basis to resolve war crimes cases in previous years, that is, the resources to be allocated for that purpose in the future.
2. At the time of the adoption of the Strategy, the basic preconditions for the implementation of the strategic planning of investment in capacities for the purpose of realizing the objectives and measures from the Strategy within the set deadlines were not met.
The courts and prosecutor's offices in BiH and the relevant ministries of finance, in cooperation with the ministries of justice and the Judicial Commission of Brcko District, shall:
- in 2009, in all judicial institutions that work on resolving war crimes cases, identify in the bookkeeping records the budgetary items that concern war crimes cases, more precisely earmark the funds for resolving war crimes cases through the bookkeeping and budgetary practice and monitoring.
- develop a plan for resolving war crimes cases that needs to be implemented through the concept of budgetary planning, which implies preparing a detailed plan on the method for fulfillment of a strategic goal or goals of the budgetary user, name of the program and operational objectives for each of these programs, a person responsible or a program manager, performance measures (final result, output, efficiency), planned activities, the legal basis for planned activities, resources according to the economic classification and the number of employees.
- develop a separate program with quantifiable objectives and results within the budget of institutions that work on resolving war crimes cases. This will facilitate the monitoring of the efficiency of the use of resources allocated for resolving war crimes cases.
In 2009, the Ministry of Justice of BiH and the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH will draft the following two documents:
a) Review and analysis of the material-technical resources available to all institutions involved in resolving war crimes cases in BiH, as well as the analysis and comparison between the capacities and funds that are realistically available and those that are required for the implementation of the Strategy within the set deadline.
b) Projection and long-term financial framework for full implementation of measures from the Strategy in the period 2009-2024.
6. STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION AND SUPERVISION
For the purpose of monitoring the efficiency and quality of the implementation of measures from the Strategy and evaluation of the results accomplished in relation to those that were expected, it is necessary to establish a supervisory body that will continuously follow and give direction to the work of all institutions tasked with the implementation of strategic measures.
Appointment
At the proposal of the Ministry of Justice, Council of Ministers of BiH will establish, within 30 days from the date of the adoption of the strategy, a permanent and professional Supervisory body that will monitor the implementation of the Strategy. The Supervisory body shall include representatives of the ministries of justice, finance and treasury of BiH, the Federation of BiH, Republika Srpska and the relevant institutions of Brcko District of BiH, as well as the HJPC.
Manner of operation and support to the work of the Supervisory body
The supervisory body will meet once a month.
All entities working on the implementation of measures from the Strategy, more specifically Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, President of the Court of BiH, Chief Prosecutor of FBiH, Chief Prosecutor of RS, Chief Prosecutor of the Brcko District Prosecutor's Office, Presidents of the Supreme Courts of FBiH and RS, and the Appellate Court of Brcko District, and the President of the HJPC will regularly report to the Supervisory body on the actions taken, at least once a month.
The Supervisory body will report on a quarterly basis to the Council of Ministers about the implementation of measures from the Strategy. The quarterly reports to be adopted by the Council of Ministers may include proposed measures to enhance the extent of realization of strategic measures.
The Supervisory body can give instructions for the improvements in implementation of the Strategy, which cannot be in contravention with the objectives of the Strategy. The Supervisory body may also decide on the manner of participation of representatives of the civil society, media and international organizations in the process of monitoring the implementation of the Strategy.
Ministry of Justice of BiH will ensure professional, administrative, and financial support to the work of the Supervisory body.
Notes:
1. The term „war crimes" as used in the Strategy refers to criminal offenses committed during the war in BiH (1992-1995), prescribed under Chapter XVII of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina „Crimes against humanity and values protected by intrenational law" committed in relation to the war in BiH. [Back]
2. Parts of the text in bold serve to mark a special importance of particular issues and objectives that the Strategy seeks to accomplish. [Back]
3. KT-RZ marks the war crimes cases where the perpetrator is known, KTN-RZ marks the war crimes cases where the perpetrators are unknown, whereas KTA-RZ marks the cases in which the existence of the criminal offense of war crimes has not been established with certainty, as well as different criminal cases related to war crimes cases. [Back]
4. The underlined parts of the text mark concrete measures that need to be taken in order to accomplish the goals set in the Strategy and will be listed in the table of strategic measures at the end of the text. [Back]
5. Pursuant to legal authority of the cantonal MoIs, Sarajevo Canton MoI has no special organizational unit working on war crimes cases. The work on collecting the information about war crimes is done by the Section for Violent Crimes, Sexual Offenses and War Crimes of the General Crimes Department of the Crime Police Sector. The Book of Rules on Internal Organization of Sarajevo Canton MoI foresees 11 posts for authorized official persons, without a specific mention of the number of police officers assigned to work on war crimes cases. [Back]
6. Tuzla Canton MoI - Tuzla has no special organizational unit working exclusively on war crimes cases. The need for a unit to work on war crimes cases saw the establishment of a team within the General Crimes Department. [Back]
7. Crime Police Sector has no special working posts for war crimes cases foreseen in its Rulebook on Systematization. This Sector will, however, follow the HJPC recommendations and foresee in the Rulebook a section for work on war crimes cases within the General Crime Prevention and Detection Division and staff it accordingly upon the adoption of the amended Rulebook on Systematization. [Back]
8. West Herzegovina Canton has no special organizational unit for investigation of war crimes cases, nor does it have any investigators assigned to work on war crimes issues. If need be, police officers of the Division for Prevention of General Crimes shall take over such tasks and act upon them. [Back]
9. The process of amending the Rulebook on Systematization of MoI Travnik for the purpose of establishing War Crimes Division within the Crime Police Sector of MoI Travnik is currently underway [Back]
10. There is no special organizational unit for war crimes cases in Posavina Canton MoI , The Investigations Division employs a Head of Division and 4 investigators who also work on war crimes cases when required. [Back]
11. Job description for inspector/investigator posts for violent crimes in the Criminal Investigations Department includes work on war crimes cases [Back]
International Criminal Law:
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This document has been published on 28Oct15 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
