Barisa Colak: Trust Between Neighbours Is The Big Issue

Outgoing justice minister says war crimes agreements signed between former Yugoslav states were a huge step forward – now it is time to implement them.

Barisa Colak, Bosnia’s outgoing Minister of Justice, sees the adoption of the National Strategy for Processing of War Crime Cases as the greatest achievement of his four years in office.

But he says regional cooperation in this field remains a big issue. He also fears the deadlines defined by the strategy will not be respected.

“The question of mutual trust between countries in the region is still a major problem,” he said. “Confidence must be built because it is a key element, not only in the prosecution of war crimes, but in other areas of justice.

“This is our common task and I’m sorry all the states in the region haven’t done more regarding this issue over the past four years,” he said.

The National Strategy, adopted in 2008, stipulated that the most complex, high-priority war crime cases should be completed within seven years, while others should be completed within 15 years.

“The deadlines outlined in the strategy will probably be modified,” Colak admitted.

“On one hand, implementation of the Strategy is being delayed, and on the other, we’re still not sure about the number of cases that will be referred to courts in Bosnia by the Hague Tribunal,” he added.

The greatest responsibility for implementation of the strategy now lay with the courts and prosecutor’s offices in Bosnia itself, he continued.

These are the institutions that must implement the strategy, and to which adequate space, staff salaries, material costs and the like should be provided.

During Colak’s tenure at the justice ministry, Bosnia signed agreements on the mutual execution of court decisions with all countries in the region.

But Colak believes the agreement the on transfer of cases between countries has not worked out smoothly in practice.

“We would have come more easily to other agreements had we transferred more cases to each other,” he said. “In fact, we have more transferred cases with countries that aren’t our neighbours, which is illogical.

“The agreement still made a huge step forward in terms of prosecuting war crimes but what we lack is trust between states.

“We have the laws, we have the agreements, we just need to implement them,” Colak told BIRN-Justice Report.

One glaring example of poor interstate cooperation is this field is the case of Mirko Todorovic, he noted.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, sentenced Todorovic to 13 years’ imprisonment in February 2009 for crimes committed in Bratunac, eastern Bosnia.

He escaped in January next year while defending himself from liberty and now is in Serbia, where he has since obtained its citizenship.

Despite the signed agreement on the mutual execution of court decisions, Serbia has not arrested Todorovic and he is still at large.

“Todorovic is one example of the regional lack of cooperation, but I do not know specific reasons for it,” Colak said.

“There should be no need for any country, including Bosnia, to issue an international arrest warrant when the person is in a neighbouring state, which has the ability to prosecute,” Colak said.

The minister pointed to better examples of regional cooperation, where court decisions have been implemented across borders.

One concerned Branimir Glavas, who was sentenced to jail for war crimes committed in Croatia after being arrested in Bosnia.

Glavas was sentenced 2009 in Croatia to eight years in prison and is serving his sentence in prison in Zenica, in central Bosnia.

One of the uncompleted tasks of Colak’s four-year term is the long-planned building of a state prison for Bosnia.

The deadline to complete the complex has been postponed several times, mainly for financial reasons.

Colak said the plans had been modified concerning the capacity of the prison and the security system, which has to match EU standards.

“I believe we will finish the jail by 2013, and will have an institution with top security, which fully complies with European prison rules,” he said.

“Such a jail certainly does not exist anywhere else in this region, not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also in the entire former Yugoslavia and the Balkans,” Colak said.

The minister spoke also about the process of dealing with the past, which in his opinion is a complex but important issue. He admits more could have been done during his tenure.

“Time is the key element – we all sooner or later have to face the truth, whatever it may be,” he said.

“If we do not come to one truth, we must then learn to live with several truths and be tolerant towards everyone,” he added.

“We must learn that there is no alternative to cooperation, especially when it comes to our neighbours,” Colak said.

Dragana Erjavec is a journalist with BIRN – Justice Report. [email protected] Justice Report is one of BIRN’s weekly online publications