Local Justice – Zenica: Parliamentary Delegations Visiting Prison
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Dusanka Majkic, a delegate at the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, visited Serb prisoners, who were sentenced for war crimes, in the Facility in Zenica and announced the possibility that the verdicts against them might be reconsidered.
I spoke to six prisoners. They proposed that Republika Srpska form an independent team of attorneys, who would examine the horrible manipulations that occurred in those verdicts. They say that they have evidence, showing that they were not present when the alleged crimes for which they have been sentenced were committed, Majkic said.
Also, she said that the convicts complained, because their family members could not visit them and because they were physically abused by other prisoners and guards.
Nihad Spahic, Director of the Zenica Facility, denied these allegations, saying that, following a review of the book of complaints, it was determined that only two Serb prisoners had filed complaints over the course of the past year and a half.
Last year we had 226 disciplinary reports. In only one of them a Serb was the injured party. The case was examined and the perpetrator punished. Unlike other facilities, this Facility has been praised by international organizations, because prisoners are not abused by prison staff, Spahic said.
Spahic said that 27 war-crime convicts, including 14 Bosniaks, nine Serbs and four Croats, were currently serving their sentences in the Zenica Facility.
Jasminka Dzumhur, Human Rights Ombudsperson of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that this was her third visit to the prison in Zenica, adding that the investigations related to complaints filed by 17 prisoners had still not been completed.
The prison system in Bosnia and Herzegovina is far from the international standards. We shall organise a joint meeting of Facility representatives, the Ministry of Justice and parliaments at the end of June or early July, as part of the writing of a special report on these complaints, Dzumhur announced.
Dusanka Majkic said that Serb convicts complained about not being allowed to request transfer to other prisons that are closer to their places of residence.
Dz.S.
