As part of the Structured Dialogue on Justice and in line with its Recommendations, European Union will provide significant resources for a timely prosecution of war crimes processed in judicial institutions in BiH. Within the annual 2012/2013 IPA program, EUR 16.8 million has been allocated to facilitate reduction of the backlog of these cases. Nevertheless, IPA funds will not be available until early or mid- 2014.

For the purpose of an unhindered work on war crimes cases, an Agreement between the OSCE Mission to BiH and the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH has been signed so that war crimes cases could be processed in BiH as efficiently as possible.

At the today’s meeting of the representatives of the OSCE Mission to BiH and the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, modalities of assistance to the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH rendered by the OSCE Mission to BiH and EU donors, particularly  Embassies of the United States of America, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden, were agreed on.

This support will pertain to the strengthening of the capacities of the Regional Team 6 within the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina for its work on war crimes cases. The donated funds will be used for the recruitment and employment of Legal Officers, Assistants and Interpreters/Translators within the Regional Team 6, in order to expedite prosecution of war crimes cases falling within this Team’s scope of activities.

An advertisement for the recruitment of new staff is expected to be published as early as next month, and they will work with the new Prosecutors whose employment was approved by the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council upon the request of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina; the funds for the employment of Prosecutors was approved by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  

The Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has also met with Mr. Howard Tucker, Head of Mission of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) from Sarajevo Field Office, to talk about the cooperation between the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH and the ICTY Office of the Prosecutor. Mr. Salihović informed Mr. Tucker about the commendations of the Council of Europe related to the fulfillment of the Recommendations of the Structured Dialogue on Justice and intensified regional cooperation in war crimes cases prosecution that leads to regional reconciliation.

Mr. Salihović informed Mr. Tucker that there had been four meetings with Prosecutors from the Republic of Serbia held so far; at those meetings, Prosecutors from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia discussed specific war crimes cases which prosecution both sides are interested in.

At this meeting, the visit of the Prosecutor of the ICTY Office of the Prosecutor, Mr. Serge Brammertz, to the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH was agreed on.