War Crimes Processing Stalled, Pending Judicial Reform Strategy

“If the strategy isn’t adopted, work on war crime cases at the entity level will stop completely,” a source close to the judiciary told BIRN. The same source said it would be impossible to continue work on war crimes cases without European Commission resources, as no other funding had been set aside to support such work.

Most prosecutors, experts, psychologists and typists involved in war crimes cases in Republika Srpska were employed through European Commission funds and haven’t received their salaries for the past eight months.

A few prosecutors have taken sick leave as a result, while some associates working in Republika Srpska have been fired.

Exhumations, identifications, the examination of witnesses and bringing witnesses to court to testify are all on hold, BIRN’s source says.

“Cases which are in the investigation phase aren’t being dealt with at all. It’s uncertain how ongoing trials will be handled, because there are no resources for paying travel and accommodation costs for witnesses. We’ve planned to start exhumations during this period, but they can’t be conducted. The Institute for Missing Persons keeps urging us to schedule exhumations and identifications every day,” BIRN’s source says.

The situation in cantonal institutions is slightly different, because some cantonal governments ensured temporary resources for legal staff from their own budgets.

As reported earlier by BIRN, the draft strategy for judicial reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been approved. However, the European Commission funds needed to pay 142 employees working on war crime cases have been placed on hold until the strategy is fully adopted.

The ministries of justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska and the Federation have yet to resolve the disputed issue of the appellate court of Bosnia and Herzegovina – this presents the biggest obstacle to the full adoption of the strategy for judicial reform. They agreed that the issue should be handled as per the Law on the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Within its 2012 and 2013 projects, the European Commission allocated 14.8 million Euros to providing support to courts and prosecutions, in order to more efficiently process war crimes.

Thanks to this support, a total of 20 prosecutors, seven judges, and 115 expert advisors, associates and administrative and technical workers were employed by 16 prosecutions and six courts during 2014.

However, the payment of the second tranche of the European Commission funding, totalling 2.9 million Euros, depended on the adoption of the draft strategy for judicial reform and has not been issued. As a result, a number of war crime prosecutors haven’t received salaries since January, contracts with expert associations have been terminated and there are no resources for covering costs related to witness appearances in courts.