PROTOCOL ON COOPERATION OF THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICES OF BIH AND MONTENEGRO SIGNED

Protocol of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office of Montenegro on Cooperation in Prosecution of Perpetrators of War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and Genocide was signed in Brussels today.

This Protocol allows for direct cooperation in prosecution of war crimes which is already the case with prosecutors’ offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia, all in the aim to prevent war crimes suspects using their citizenship and residence in another country to hide from prosecution.

The Special Department for War Crimes within the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH handles cases in which the information was obtained that certain suspected perpetrators are located in Montenegro.

It concerns suspects who have stayed in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war in Bosnia and whose prosecution will be expedited as a result of the protocol signing.

This will also improve cooperation in the prosecution of war crimes cases handled by the Montenegrin judiciary in which witnesses or injured parties are located in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The signing of the Protocol on Cooperation was supported by the institutions of the European Union which have characterized it as a significant step forward in regional cooperation of judicial institutions and one of the essential steps of the structural dialogue.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to strengthen the regional cooperation between the prosecutor’s offices, in order to efficiently prosecute all types of crime committed in different countries as well as to preserve the rule of law and create a safer living environment on the European path of Bosnia and Herzegovina.