Number of indictments for war crimes rises
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The recruitment of larger number of prosecutors also contributed for raising of 33 indictments against 63 persons. Currently, 35 prosecutors are working on war crimes cases in the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Boris Grubesic, spokesman of the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that the largest number of indictments in the history of this institution it is expected by the end of the year.
One of the most comprehensive indictment which was filed this year is related to crimes in Trnovo.
Edhem Godinjak, Medaris Saric and Mirko Bunoza are charged with participating in a joint criminal enterprise aimed at killing, detaining and burning the property of Serb civilians and also of killing of prisoners of war. The Prosecution alleges that more than 90 people were killed, including elderly people, women and one child born in 1990.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina has filed several less complex indictments for which the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina decided that they will be prosecuted before lower courts. One of them is indictment against Ivan Zelenika, who is charged of the inhumane treatment of Bosniak civilians in the Mostar area.
The invitation for the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina to begin to process complex war crimes cases in the next period is addressed from the Conference on the Prosecution of War Crimes Cases, which is held in Sarajevo in early October.
“Particularly, the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is invited to accede to the prosecution of cases transferred from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia,” said Milorad Novkovic, who chairs the supervisory body for monitoring the implementation of the National Strategy for Processing of War Crimes Cases.
In early September, in one such case, which is entitled “Mice”, the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina arrested 13 suspects for crimes committed in areas of Doboj and Teslic. They were released after a month, and at one of the hearings it was said that the State Prosecution plans to examine dozens of witnesses.
Besides this, there are also war crimes investigations that have not yet been completed, thus more indictments could be expected in the future.
Milan Tegetlija, President of High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (VTSV) of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina received assurances that human resources do not present a problem in the prosecution of war crimes.
“Problems with the number of courtrooms and the current number of cases already exist, and those are the problems that will have to be solved in the future,” says Tegetlija.
According to the schedule of the trials before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the courtrooms are reserved from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Generally speaking, the hearings end earlier than the time they are reserved for.
