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War victims’ groups welcomed an announcement by the country’s High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council on Monday that preparations for opening the new district court and prosecution in Prijedor were underway.
The justice ministry in Bosnia’s Republika Srpska entity has not confirmed exactly when the new court will start working, but the law stipulates that it must happen by the end of this year.
The establishment of the court in Prijedor will reduce the caseload for the district court in Banja Luka, theoretically enabling faster progress in prosecuting crimes
“As far as work overload is concerned, it does exist, especially in cases handled by the civil and administrative sections,” the district court in Banja Luka said in a statement.
Prijedor-based lawyer Sinisa Dakic also said that the establishment of the new district court was necessary to ease the burden on the district court in Banja Luka.
“I work at the district court in Banja Luka in Banja Luka. I think the court is currently overloaded with work,” Dakic said.
Associations representing war victims from Prijedor expressed hope that the new court and prosecution would accelerate the processing of war crimes.
Activist Sudbin Music said he hoped that cases related to the Tomasica mass grave, where more than 600 bodies of Bosniaks from the Prijedor area were found in 2014, will be accelerated.
But Music said he was not very optimistic because many years have passed since the wartime killings and many witnesses have either died or left Prijedor.
“In any case, this will represent some sort of security for us who live here and deal with human rights, but also for ordinary citizens in Prijedor. I think this will be a message regarding some security,” Music said.
Edin Ramulic of the Izvor Association from Prijedor said that judicial capacities for working on war crime cases would be increased by the establishment of the district court, but he cautioned that working on such cases in small communities like Prijedor was extremely difficult.
Ramulic said he was concerned about possible pressure on those who have to file indictments against individuals who live and work in the same small town.
“I think Prijedor may be even too small for such a level of judiciary. When it comes to war crimes, it is better to keep them somewhat separated, not to deal with them in Prijedor due to those pressures,” he said.
“On the other hand, it is good, because it will reduce the costs, make the processes easier and maybe increase the number of cases. Also, it would somehow make Prijedor face those things in a better manner. Maybe the local media will not ignore or avoid covering these type of trials,” he added.
The new court in Prijedor will be the sixth district court in Republika Srpska at which first-instance trials in war crime cases can be held.
