Weaknesses of Laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Three days after the flight of Dusan Jankovic, the State Court says that situations like this one point to “the weaknesses” of legal provisions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued an announcement, saying that the flight of Dusan Jankovic, former Commander of the Police Station in Prijedor, who was sentenced under a first instance verdict to 27 years in prison for crimes at Koricanske stijene, is “intentionally used for damaging the reputation of this institution”.
 
Jankovic, who defended himself while at liberty under certain prohibiting measures, failed to appear at the pronouncement of the verdict on December 21 this year. He has been on the run since. He was sentenced under the first instance verdict for his role in the murder of more than 150 men on Mount Vlasic on August 21, 1992.
 
The State Court says the public were given the wrong impression about Jankovic’s release to liberty, considering the fact that the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina “has never requested his detention due to existence of a danger that he might flee”.
 
As per an order issued by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jankovic was held in custody from May 2008 to November last year due to the existence of “a possibility that he might influence witnesses during the course of the trial” and a danger that public peace might be disturbed.
 
“As the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina can only act on requests filed by the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and cannot expand the grounds for ordering a person into custody on its own initiative, the State Court terminated his custody when the reasons for it ceased to exist. After the Prosecution had completed the presentation of evidence, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina found that there the danger that he might influence witnesses no longer existed and the public order would not be disturbed by his release to liberty,” the announcement says.
 
As explained by the State Court, according to the laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina it is not mandatory to order war crimes indictees into custody. It further said that the custody measure was mandatory “only in case of the gravest crimes, but only after a first instance verdict sentencing the person to more than 5 years in prison has been pronounced”.
 
“The situations like this one can point to the need to change the existing laws and the mechanisms for their enforcement. The fact is that, besides this case, the flight of convict Momir Savic that happened earlier this year has shaken the public. Therefore, this can be seen as an opportunity for all parties, including the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to consider the ways of dealing with this problem in the future,” the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina said.
 
Momir Savic fled on May 17 this year. A few days later he was sentenced under a second instance verdict to 17 years in prison for crimes in the Visegrad area. Savic awaited the pronouncement of the second instance verdict while at liberty under certain prohibiting measures.
 
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina says that, despite the situations like this one, it has rendered 58 second instance verdicts for war crimes against 78 persons and pronounced imprisonment sentences of 921 years in total since 2005.
 
Seven people were sentenced by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to a total of 121 years in prison for crimes at Koricanske stijene.
 
“Any attempt to question the work of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina or even its existence is therefore extremely inappropriate and superficial,” the State Court said in its announcement.