LOCAL COMMUNITY OUTREACH ROUND TABLE FOCUSING ON THE WORK OF JUDICIAL INSTITUTIONS HELD IN KONJIC

At the round table organized with the aim of introducing the work of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH and the Court of BiH to local communities throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, a representative of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH presented the history, organization and results of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Round tables are being held in local communities so that the citizens in the cities throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina could get acquainted with the work of the state-level judicial institutions and their respective capacities, especially with the capacities relating to war crimes prosecution and cooperation with law enforcement agencies and all other institutions involved in this process.

Round table participants heard the presentations on the structure of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH and the Special Department for War Crimes, and the specificity of the work on war crimes cases dealing with events that occurred 18 or more years ago.

For the purpose of better understanding the work of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, the attendees were presented with the complexity of the work on war crimes cases in which it is often necessary to hear dozens of witnesses and gather evidence that often includes several hundred pieces of evidentiary material within just one case.

The attendees were explained that, in view of the aforesaid, war crimes cases were very specific and required a longer period of time, and they were informed of all other activities that need to be undertaken before all the phases of a case could be completed, starting from the initiation of investigation and issuance of an Indictment and moving to the trial phase and ultimately ending with a final Verdict.  

The round table was attended by about 40 representatives of local community, including the representatives of local authorities, war crimes victims’ associations from the territory of Konjic, police and the judiciary, non-governmental organizations, media and interested citizens.

Participants of the round table had the opportunity to ask the representative of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH about issues of interest to them that fall within the scope of work of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH.

The organizer of the round table in Konjic was the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in RS, supported by of the U.S. Embassy to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Representatives of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH regularly participate in outreach round tables and conferences aimed at better informing the local communities and citizens throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina about the work of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.