Hague Tribunal to Open Information Centre in Sarajevo
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An agreement between the Sarajevo authorities and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to set up the new information centre will be signed on Tuesday at the landmark Vijecnica city hall building, which reopened two years ago after being shelled during the wartime siege of the city.
It will be the first centre of its kind in the former Yugoslavia and will offer access to documents and video materials from the ICTY.
“The basic goal will be to provide an up-to-date, direct and safe electronic access to all publicly-available ICTY files and archive materials contained in the Tribunal’s databases to the general public,” said ICTY spokesperson Nenad Golcevski.
Depending on funding, the centre will try to develop activities aimed at informing the public about war crime issues with the aim of making contribution to transitional justice and strengthening the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the wider region, Golcevski said.
“The Information Centre will have direct and safe access to all public files and ICTY archive material contained in its databases. This includes a database containing court files and appellate chamber decisions, as well as another database that is yet to be created,” he explained.
“The aforementioned database will contain audio and video recordings of all hearings held before the Tribunal,” he added.
According to the agreement with the city, the ICTY will offer support to secure donation to fund the centre.
The agreement will be signed on Tuesday by Sarajevo mayor Ivo Komsic and ICTY judge Fausto Pocar.
The ICTY was set up in 1993 and has indicted over 160 people. It is due to shut down in 2017, and its remaining appeals will be dealt with by the Mechanism for International Tribunals.
The neo-Moorish Vijecnica was built in 1896, but burned down in 1992 after being hit by shells fired by Bosnian Serb forces besieging Sarajevo.
The reconstructed building reopened in May 2014 to house the national library, the city council and a museum.
