Bosnia Prosecutor Says Negligence Case Sends Wrong Message

Former state prosecutor Munib Halilovic said on Thursday that a disciplinary case against him for failing to work on a war crimes investigation for more than six years was a “message to all prosecutors to pick easier cases”.

Disciplinary prosecutor Mirza Hadziomerovic said in his closing arguments that Halilovic should be found guilty because he let an investigation into the deaths of eight men in a prison camp sit for six years and nine months.

“Releasing this prosecutor of responsibility would send a negative image to the public about what we as a country expect from judicial workers,” the disciplinary prosecutor said.

Halilovic admitted that he did not work on the case but only because it was classified as a less complex case under the Bosnian war crimes processing strategy, which obliges prosecutors to prioritize complex and sensitive cases.

“In my annual plans it is clear that this case was planned for 2016, so I did not commit an offence. I only followed the orders of the Strategy and of my superiors who asked us to deal with complex cases,” said Halilovic, adding that his work in the state prosecution had been praised.

The state strategy for dealing with war crimes cases was adopted in 2008 and states that all complex cases should be finished by 2016 and the rest in 15 years.

But for some years, legal experts and judicial officials have criticised the state prosecution for raising indictments for individual war crimes, reducing complex and wide-ranging attacks to a series of more minor incidents, which means also means some former senior individuals are never charged.

Halilovic suggested that the disciplinary prosecutor file charges against prosecutors who intentionally pick easier cases to fill the annual quotas.

“This is how many prosecutors work in Bosnia. There are prosecutors who have never raised an indictment in a complex case. That is what the disciplinary prosecutor should focus on, ask why some are allowed to pick easier cases. That is not how I worked and now I have a problem,” Halilovic added.

He said some prosecutors on the state level pick out rape incidents or individual killings from a complex investigation and then raise an indictment, which “goes against the very essence of the [war crimes] strategy.

“At the start of this proceeding I thought this was a mistake that the disciplinary prosecutor did not know why some cases are prioritized. However, his persistence tells me that someone wants to send a dangerous message… that someone wants all cases treated as equal, which means every prosecutor will be able to pick simpler cases,” said Halilovic.

Before the closing arguments, former chief prosecutor Milorad Barasin testified for Halilovic and confirmed that state-level prosecutors were asked to deal with the most complex and sensitive cases and not with the simpler ones.

“I remember the indictments that Halilovic raised for Kalinovik and Nevesinje. Those were very sensitive cases and difficult ones. They were for ‘command responsibility’ and a ‘joint criminal enterprise’. At one time he worked alone and had no assistant,” said Barasin.

The disciplinary commission will make a ruling in the case at a later date.