Court faces “political” smears

For the first time in its short history,the Bosnian War Crimes Chamber is facing criticism from politicians who are publicly questioning its objectivity.

They claim that the chamber has become apolitical court in which indictees of only one ethnicity – Serb – are tried.

However, with elections scheduled across Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on 1 October, judges and representatives of the international community have dismissed the claims as transparent political rhetoric that has no basis in reality.

FREE ESTIMATIONS

The War Crimes Chamber, which operates within the Bosnian court, opened its doors in March 2005. Since then, 18 indictments for war crimes have been filed. From January to December last year, six such indictments were confirmed, charging 16 indictees.

One legally valid judgement, a five-year sentence to Abdulahim Maktouf for crimes committed against civilians in Travnik, has been confirmed. Three more cases are in the process of appeal -Dragoje Paunovic (20 years), Boban Simsic (five years) and Nedjo Samardzic (13years).

To date, politicians have not publicly questioned the chamber’s work. This has now changed.

The strongest criticism came at the endof August. Nikola Spiric of Banja Luka, a member of the executive board of the party Confederation of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and representative at the House of Representatives of BiH, said that the trials being heard in the chamber “don’t have the function of reconciliation between peoples”.

“More than 90 per cent of those tried under the suspicion of committing war crimes are Serbs,” Spiric said.

The politician claims that as many as 21,000 war crimes indictees may eventually be tried in the chamber, based on international estimates that around 13,000 cases involving more than one suspect would need to be investigated over the coming decades.

“If the number of cases – which will soon reach the number of 21,000 – is multiplied by the number of family members of those persons, we will get a number of almost 100,000 people who hate their country or are afraid of it,” Spiric said, adding that this situation would be very damaging for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Spiric’s comments were followed by a remark by Milorad Dodik, president of SNSD and prime minister of Republika Srpska (RS), that the current relationship with the Bosnian court and prosecution “will be reconsidered” and that the authorities granted to the court may be withdrawn.

“We very much doubt the fairness of the prosecution’s work,” Dodik said this week.

The statement of Dodik on the potential withdrawal of authorities given by RS to the court and prosecution was commented on by the Office of the High Representative (OHR), which pointed out that the entities did not transfer authorities to those two state institutions.

“The law on the court of BiH and the law on the prosecution of BiH are passed based on the constitution, which clearly states that the resolution of certain criminal acts is the responsibility of the state,” Ljiljana Radetic, spokesperson of OHR, said in Banja Luka.

Dodik maintains that the people of RS took part in the passing of such laws, and said that as such they have the right to react “if those functions are not to the satisfaction of all in BiH”.

THE REACTIONS OF THE COURT

The criticism from RS politicians prompted a number of reactions within the Federation of BiH.

Hasan Balic, a parliamentary assembly candidate from the People’s party “Radom za boljitak”, included himself in the dispute taking place across the Bosnian media. He described the allegations of ethnic bias as “are offensive forall citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, regardless of their nationality.

“Nobody is tried because they belong to a certain people, but instead the processes are taking place against persons for which there is founded suspicion that they committed war crimes,” Balic said.

BiH justice minister Slobodan Kovac also reacted, arguing that any possible irregularities in the work of the court and prosecution will only emerge after these institutions present their 2005 reports to the BiH parliament. However, they do not have to present their reports to any other body – one of the conditions of their full independence.

“I cannot comment the situation based on newspaper articles and politicians’ statements,” Kovac told the media. “Therefore, I believe that it is necessary that the court and prosecution of BiH send their reports. Only then, based on exact indicators, can the representatives evaluate whether something is not functioning in those institutions.”

The heads of the prosecution and court have agreed in principle to not offer any comment of the politicians’ allegations. But judges Finn Lynghjem from Norway and Manfred Dauster from Germany have decided to state their position through open letters.

Lynghjem and Dauster claim that ethnic background is insignificant in the trials taking place in the War Crimes Chamber. “The only important thing is whether a criminal act was committed,” the letter reads.

With reference to the upcoming elections,the judges criticised the “limited and selfish needs” of some politicians who were trying to portray the chamber “as a objective and dependent body directed at criminal persecution of members of only one ethnic group”.

A CLOSED COURT?

Lynghjem and Dauster went on to express hope that the citizens are able to understand the background behind those statements “which have a hidden political agenda”.

“One of those hidden objectives is the termination of a very sensitive institution such as the Bosnian court”, the letter reads, adding that the existence of an independent and objective state court does “not fit in the false picture of reality promised by the politicians to their voters”.

Mirsad Tokaca, director of Sarajevo’s Research and Documentation Centre (RDC), agrees. In his opinion “the charges directed by the politicians from RS are nothing but electoral manipulation”.

On the other hand, Branko Todorovic, president of the Helsinki commission of RS, believes that the court and prosecution must take some of the responsibility for attacks of this kind, as they are no longer open and accountable to the people.

“There is no longer cooperation with the media, non-governmental organisations and simple citizens,” Todorovic told Justice Report.

“Because of this lack of information, people have the feeling that these institutions do not serve justice any more, which immediately gives politicians the opportunity to politic ise information and use it for their purposes,” he added.

Maja Milavic is a journalist of BIRN’s Justice Report.