IFIMES: Brammertz Prepared Negative Report on the Work of the BiH Prosecutor's Office

Although the international community is dissatisfied with the work of the Chief State Prosecutor of BiH, it is forgotten that the backbone of support for the Chief Prosecutor of BiH comes precisely from the Republika Srpska, because all serious actions of the State Prosecutor's Office of BiH have been conducted in the Federation of BiH against high-ranking Bosniak and Croatian officials, while the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, together with SIPA, each for its own reasons, does not contemplate carrying out any actions that would jeopardize the empire of Milorad Dodik in the RS, states the analysis of the IFIMES Institute from Ljubljana, as reported by the Bosnian news agency Patria.

The negative assessment by Serge Brammertz, Chief Prosecutor of the ICTY, which will be sent to the UN Security Council regarding the work of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, has been repeated for almost two years. Although this is a political slap in the face for BiH, there is information that lobbying is already underway in certain circles in BiH to prepare a positive report on the work of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH, i.e., to attempt to lobby within the Presidency of BiH and, through the permanent representative of BiH to the UN, to present completely opposing views to the UN Security Council compared to the report of Serge Brammertz, which will further complicate BiH's position.

On the other hand, IFIMES also analyzes the release of Vojislav Šešelj.

- By allowing the accused Vojislav Šešelj unimpeded public activity on the territory of Serbia and political activity, the ICTY has directly jeopardized the basic postulates of the United Nations Security Council (UN SC) Resolution as well as the reasons for the establishment of the ICTY by the UN SC, states the analysis of IFIMES, the International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies from Ljubljana.

- The arrival of Theodor Meron, President of the ICTY, in BiH at the time of marking the Statehood Day of BiH is merely a coincidence, given everything that this former Israeli diplomat and long-serving President of the ICTY has done to erode trust in international justice in BiH and the region – the analysis states.

IFIMES also recalls the letter from Croatian President Ivo Josipović sent to Meron and his response to Josipović, which is nothing more than a legal soap opera that does not resolve the Šešelj case but could have implications for the appeals process in the "Prlić et al." case.

- Of course, Ivo Josipović is well aware that Meron also delivered the acquittal for General Ante Gotovina and that the founder of the ICTY is precisely the UN SC, not the EU, and it is surprising that Josipović wrote to Meron and the EU, but did not write to the UN SC and the UN Secretary-General. It is symptomatic that discussions about the work of the ICTY are opening precisely before the pronouncement of more significant verdicts.

From BiH, the only official reaction to the release of Šešelj on provisional release came from the victims of crimes, who, unlike Josipović, wrote to various addresses at the UN, including Gabriela Knaul, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers at the UN/OHCHR. According to available information, the victims from BiH also addressed Theodor Meron and directly accused him of the situation regarding the provisional release of Vojislav Šešelj.