Another AIS meeting

AIS members discussed the improvement of relations with the public relation offices of the Court of BiH and its prosecution department, as well as remaining and new obstacles that AIS members have not yet had a chance to discuss.

Plans for AIS activities in 2008 were also on the agenda.

The participants agreed that the cooperation with the court and prosecution departments has been notably improved, in terms of more efficient flow of information.

However, they also noted that certain obstacles remained despite the efforts to overcome them.

Most complaints refer to the lack of access to public archives and courtroom photographs showing unprotected witnesses, the Trial Chamber and prosecution members.

This has led to the media having to use the same photographs many times. All photographs received from PIOS only show the indictees.

This means that the suspects are constantly visible to the public, undermining their basic legal right to be considered innocent until proven guilty.

The AIS members agreed that it was necessary to organise a new meeting of journalists, editors and representatives of judicial institutions. It was decided to hold the meeting in the Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo on December 18, from 6pm.

The aim of the meeting will be to reach new agreements and obtain suggestions for improvement of the cooperation between the media and the state court and prosecution, but also to improve the flow of information to the public concerning court processes in general.

The association members also discussed AIS activities planned for 2008 and agreed that, in addition to its regular activities, the association should organise a number of meetings with the media and judicial institutions at local level. The next AIS meeting, which will be held in late December, will focus on planning these activities.

Representatives of BIRN BiH, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and court reporters from BH Radio 1, Oslobodjenje, Nezavisne novine and the Justice Report news agency participated in the meeting. The Association of Court Reporters was founded in 2005 in order to acquaint the public, through coordinated activities, with the work of the Court of BiH and its prosecution department. AIS is financially supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation as part of the BIRN BiH project on “Media, Civil Society and War Crime Trials”.