No Alternative’ to the State Court and Prosecution

Bosnian judges and prosecutors said that they had accomplished significant results, while claiming that they were subjected to “unfair attacks”.The judiciary workers spoke at a public discussion on “The Future of the Court and Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina” held in Sarajevo, which was organised by the Association Alumni of the Center for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies, ACIPS.

Meddzida Kreso, President of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Milorad Barasin, Chief Prosecutor with the State Prosecution, specifically mentioned a decision to hold a referendum in Republika Srpska on support for the State Court, and on the “anti-constitutional laws and activities of the High Representative in Bosnia”.The referendum decision was adopted by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska on April 13. Bosnia, Serb leaders say they want to hold the referendum because the state court is biased against Serbs.

“I consider the referendum a dangerous idea, because it would be fatal for the state-level institutions. The State Court and its Prosecution are on the agenda today, but any other state institution which does not suit politicians will be targeted tomorrow,” Kreso said.

She said that the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina was exposed to “unfair and malevolent” accusations about its partiality in war crimes cases.

“I assure you that we only try perpetrators of grave violations of international humanitarian law. We are not interested in their ethnic affiliation,” Kreso said.

The Chief State Prosecutor considers that Bosnians “should not worry” about the future of the State Prosecution.

“This institution has been established. It performs its work, but its results have to be better. We do have good results, but I always ask people to raise things to a higher level.”What does a referendum have to do with the Prosecution’s work? Prosecutors who work with the Prosecution are professionals, who perform their tasks in accordance with the law,” Barasin said.

Prosecutor Barasin announced that in 2011 the State Prosecution will complete “all of the cases that are important for the state”, like the Dobrovoljacka Street in Sarajevo and the Tuzla Convoy cases. Several members of the Yugoslav Peoples’ Army, JNA, were killed in those incidents in May 1992.

The public discussion was attended, among others, by Faris Vehabovic, vice-president of the Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kurt Bassuener, an analyst with the Policy Democratization Council. They said that the decision on the referendum was “unconstitutional”.

“As far as the politics are concerned, this looks like some kind of political adventurism, as it clearly undermines the foundations of the Dayton Peace Agreement. We all know that this was the first political document which officially recognised the existence of Republika Srpska. Therefore, this political move is certainly going in the wrong direction,” said Vehabovic.

Vehabovic said that the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed the constitutionality of the laws on the State Court and Prosecution on several occasions, adding that the only institution which could revise those laws was the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Policy Democratization Council analyst said that he hoped that the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina would “clearly stress that it will not allow the implementation of a referendum or any violation of the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.“The next concrete step will be for the international community to define a more clear stance, saying that this is really an anti-Dayton action, that what is happening now is illegitimate and that the RS has no authority to conduct referendums on state issues,” Bassuener said.D.Dž.