INITIAL MEETING OF OFFICIALS OF PROSECUTOR’S OFFICES IN THE REGION HELD IN RELATION TO FORMING A JOINT TEAM FOR ANALYSING AND TACKLING WAR CRIMES CASES

Under the auspices of the UN, a meeting of the officials from the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, State Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Croatia and Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia, respectively, has been held in Sarajevo. 

This meeting is the first one held in relation to an initiative of forming a Joint Commission of the three respective Prosecutor’s Offices with its seat in Sarajevo, which will be working on the analysis and review of cases, as well as on the proposal of the solution for prosecution of war crimes cases, the execution and prosecution of which extends to the territories of two states. 

The Joint Commission will be seated in Sarajevo, its premises and capacities will be provided by the UN, and representatives of all the three respective Prosecutor’s Offices will be employed there to work on the analysis and the proposal of the best way of prosecuting war crimes in cases where victims, suspects or witnesses do not reside on the territory of one state only.

In this manner, a more efficient prosecution of cases requiring cooperation between the three respective states will be enabled, whereas the analysis of cases and evidence will allow for the finalization of the cases with insufficient elements for prosecution that overburden judicial systems. 

Also, this joint body will be able to contribute significantly to the process of tracing missing persons in the region, in cases where mortal remains of victims are in the territory of another state.  

Participants deemed this meeting a truly historic breakthrough in war crimes cases prosecution; moreover, there will be meetings in the period to follow to discuss technical modalities for the work of the joint body, as well as to appoint persons from the three respective Prosecutor’s Offices who will work together in this joint body.