CHIEF PROSECUTOR MEETS WITH OFFICIALS OF BIH MISSING PERSONS’ INSTITUTE (MPI) AND ICMP TO BIH

The main topics of the meeting were operational issues in the field of exhumations and search for missing persons, and finding solutions for faster and more efficient work of all institutions involved in the processes of exhumations and search for missing persons.

The Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Gordana Tadić, and the Deputy Chief Prosecutor and Head of the Special Department for War Crimes, Milanko Kajganić, met with the representatives of the Board of Directors of the Missing Persons’ Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nikola Perišić and Marko Jurišić, and with the officials of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) to Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely Deputy Head of the Western Balkans Program Samira Krehić and Regional Forensic Coordinator Sandra Šoštarić.

The central topics of the meeting pertained to the activities in the field of search for and identification of missing persons, and solutions that will enable the fastest possible work of these institutions in cases of exhumations and identifications, and thus reduce the number of unidentified mortal remains, where it is of utmost importance to complete the process of revision of ossuaries/morgues in accordance with the ICMP report and recommendations issued by the Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the ICMP to Bosnia and Herzegovina have a long mutual cooperation in the process of searching for and identification of missing persons, and the representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with the employees of the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the International Commission on Missing Persons, participate in exhumations and in search for and identification of mortal remains in all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The COVID 19 pandemic and the restrictions and inability to travel or carry out multi-person activities have significantly hampered the work of the institutions in this area in the previous and current year; nevertheless, joint efforts have been undertaken to overcome technical difficulties and implement as many activities as possible, of course, while fully respecting epidemiological measures at the same time.

In the coming months, more activities are expected pertaining to exhumation processes, as well as the activities of the joint investigation team TERRA, in all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with other domestic and international partner institutions and agencies involved in the activities of finding missing persons.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, more than 7,000 missing persons are still unaccounted for, and the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Special Department for War Crimes give priority to searching for and identification of missing persons, as that is one of the most important issues in prosecuting war crimes cases and bringing justice to victims’ families.