Debate meeting in Travnik

Besides the Association members, the meeting was attended by representatives of the media, courts and prosecutions from the Central Bosnia Canton, as well as representatives of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which support the AIS in its work.

During the course of the discussion the media representatives said that judicial institutions often failed to provide them with information, adding that their agencies had not employed full time journalists to follow trials conducted before the municipal and cantonal courts in Travnik.

In the course of the discussion on war crimes processing by the cantonal court and prosecution in Travnik, the media representatives said that those institutions did not have spokespersons, claiming that they had to contact judges and prosecutors in order to get the necessary information.

They expressed hope that the announced appointment of a spokesperson with the Cantonal Prosecution in Travnik will, to a large extent, facilitate their access to information.

In order to make the cooperation as good as possible, representatives of the Association of Reporters, who follow the trial conducted before the State Court, proposed holding of short monthly briefings, at which journalists would be acquainted with the work of this institution in more details, or sending weekly overview of activities to by the Prosecution to journalists, which would enable them to apprise the public on the work of the Prosecution in Travnik.

The proposal for holding regular briefings was accepted both by the spokesperson and the media, who hope that this idea would be implemented in practice. Other proposals will be further reviewed.

The journalists, who attended the meeting, said that they were not even able to obtain the names of arrested persons, adding that they usually tried to obtain such information from “their own sources”.

The Cantonal Prosecution spokesperson said that this was the usual practice of this institution.

After having been informed, by the AIS, that the State Prosecution provides journalists with this type of information, the spokesperson said that she would talk to her supervisors to see if there was something that could be done concerning this issue.

The Prosecution spokesperson said that she hoped that the cooperation with the media would also be improved through establishment of a web page of the Prosecution.

The media representatives expressed their gratitude to some judges with the Cantonal Court in Travnik, thanking them for their cooperation, but they said that the fact that this institution did not have a spokesperson represented a problem.

Representatives of the Court explained that all legally-binding verdicts were uploaded on the web page, which also contained other data that might be of interest to the media.

A general conclusion of the debate meeting, held in Travnik, was that both sides “lack capacities” for following court processes.