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Judges from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Hague Tribunal met today in Sarajevo for the first time as part of the “Justice and War Crimes” project, in order to exchange experiences related to their work on war crimes cases.
“The Tribunal was never meant as a replacement for national courts, which actually have the primary role. We share the same common goals and face similar problems. It is therefore important for us to meet and share our experiences with each other,” said Fausto Pocar, who has worked as a judge with the Hague Tribunal for years.
“I think the direct communication between us, the judges, is the right way towards harmonizing the court practices,” Vucinic said.
“The exchange of experiences is unique. So are the other aspects of this project, such as the employment of nine civil servants with judicial institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will additionally improve war crimes processing,” said Gary Robins, Chief of the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As said at the meeting, the courts in this region are expected to intensify their efforts, considering the fact that the Hague Tribunal intends to complete all of the cases by the end of 2014.
Responding to journalists’ questions, judge Moloto stressed that the time for war crimes processing was not limited, adding the trials would be conducted for as long as it was necessary and there were suspects to be processed.
The “Justice and War Crimes” project covers the other countries in the region as well. It is financed by the EU. The project is implemented by the OSCE’s office for democratic institutions and human rights, ODIHR, in partnership with the Hague Tribunal, UN’s Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, UNICRI, and OSCE offices in the region.
On Thursday, December 9, the Hague Tribunal submitted more than 1,000 pages of trial transcripts to prosecutors’ offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia in order to support their war crimes processing capacities.
M.T.
