Better co-operation of Court and Prosecution requested

Although according to the State Strategy for work on war crimes cases adopted in late 2008 the same law is to be implemented in all courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina when it comes to war crime cases, the Supervisory Body concluded that the courts cannot be told which law to implement.“This is solely for judges to decide in concrete cases,” said the statement from the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council.The Supervisory Body concluded that since the Strategy was adopted, progress has been made in synchronising court practice while processing war crimes, as well as that in January 2012 a meeting will be held among the president of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, presidents of supreme courts of entities, president of the Appellate Court of the Brcko District and all judges who work in ex officio procedures in war crime cases, which will then discuss the further synchronisation of court practice.At its meeting, the Supervisory Body for monitoring the implementation of State Strategy discussed letters from Meddzida Kreso, president of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Jadranka Lokmic Misiraca, acting chief prosecutor for the State Prosecution, which assessed the transfer of war crimes cases from the state to entity level.The Supervisory Body found unacceptable the “objections from the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina” that the transfer between judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina and entity judiciaries is not being carried out in an efficient, expeditious and transparent way, nor that the Court of Bosnia is processing the most complex cases.“It was not justified for a letter of this kind to be sent to the said international organisations,” said the statement by the Supervisory Body.