The Problem of Non-obtainment of Indictments
After the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina refused to provide journalists with copies of war-crimes indictments, confirmed by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, AIS representatives decided to meet with representatives of that judicial institution in order to try to see how the indictment can be obtained.
“Reporters can in no way perform their job in a proper manner if they do not know what charges are included in the indictment. For instance, the other day it was said that the third count in an indictment was drastically changed, but we did not get any explanation about the contents of the count,” an AIS member said.
The problem of non-obtainment of indictments arose when the Agency for Protection of Personal Data of Bosnia and Herzegovina made a decision, prohibiting the use of indictees’ first and last names on the official web pages of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its Prosecution.
Considering the fact that indictments are public documents, BIRN wanted to obtain copies, but the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina said they “cannot help us”.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to which the State Prosecution forwards its indictments for confirmation, said we should ask the Prosecution to provide us with copies of those documents, because the Court does not want to redact their documents.
Confirmed and redacted indictments were previously published on the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s web page.
AIS members will request a meeting with Boris Grubesic in order to discuss the fact that they are not able to obtain copies of indictments.
Following the meeting, they will decide whether they should also meet the Chief State Prosecutor.
Besides the problems related to indictments, they will speak to Grubesic about his more and more frequent unavailability and failure to respond to journalists’ requests.
Journalists have complained about this issue several times.
In addition, the indictment-related problem and other current issues should also be discussed with the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
AIS will request a meeting with Meddzida Kresa, Court President, and Manuela Hodzic of the Public Relations Section.
Besides the judicial institutions, AIS is planning to hold meetings with OSCE representatives and other relevant institutions in the upcoming period in order to “join forces” to try to change the legal provisions related to a ban on publishing indictees’ first and last names on judicial institutions’ web pages.
The AIS meeting was attended by Merima Husejnovic, Marija Tausan, Aida Alic, Dalio Sijah, Albina Sorguc, Velma Saric, Anisa Suceska-Vekic, Erdin Kadunic and Erna Mackic.
