Local Justice – Bihac: Opening of Witness Support Section
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Within the Section, an adequate space will be provided and arranged for offices and waiting rooms. Technical staff will be hired and trained. As a result, witnesses will receive the necessary support prior, during and after court proceedings.
The Agreement was co-signed by Ander Mamontov, Minister of Justice and Administration of the Una-Sana Cantonal Government, Edina Arnautovic, President of the Cantonal Court in Bihac, Asim Dzafic, Chief Cantonal Prosecutor in Bihac and Slobodan Tadic, Acting Assistant Resident Representative of UNDP.
The Cantonal Court in Bihac has solved the biggest number of war-crimes cases about 50 – in comparison to all other courts, except the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The signing of the Memorandum means a lot to us, because it will improve the quality of our trials and make court proceedings more efficient. We hope that our results will be even better, Court President Edina Arnautovic said.
The opening of the Witness Support Section is of great importance for the Una-Sana Cantonal Prosecution too.
Our prosecutors have had to act as investigators, prosecutors and psychologists at the same time. They have done all that in order to prepare witnesses for trials in a quality manner. This Section will not only support witnesses in war-crimes cases, but we shall use it in cases of juvenile delinquency and domestic violence too, Chief Cantonal Prosecutor Asim Dzafic said.
He said that, among others, the Section staff would include a psychologist, adding that several expert assistants would be hired in the upcoming period.
The Bihac Prosecution has been one of the best prosecutors offices in terms of processing war-crimes cases over the past several years. Last year we filed indictments against 14 individuals. We have already pressed charged against eight people this year. We expect more indictments to be filed before the end of the year. Through the establishment of this Section, we are reaching a possibility and chance to improve our work, Dzafic said.
Within its project on Support to Processing of War Crimes Cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina the UNDP Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina has established and equipped witness support sections with cantonal and district courts and prosecutions in Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Eastern Sarajevo with the aim of offering support to victims and witnesses, testifying in criminal cases, during the investigation phase and court proceedings.
In co-operation with the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina and with financial support from the US Government, UNDP is working on expanding the mechanisms for providing witnesses and victims with an equal level of support and protection. The opening of the Section in Bihac has emerged from the results achieved by the Cantonal Court and Prosecutions in the field of war crimes cases processing over the course of the past years.
D.D.
