Conference in Neum: Courts and prosecutor's offices must remain spaces of law, not politics

(Patria) - The annual conference of chief prosecutors in BiH was held today in Neum, organized by the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) of BiH, with the financial support of the EU4Justice Project - Phase II and the OSCE Mission to BiH.

The focus of the conference was on analyzing the achieved results of the prosecutor's offices in organized crime and corruption cases, as well as the overall results of the prosecutorial system in BiH.



Conference participants also discussed the issue of criteria for evaluating the work of prosecutors and the issue of potential conflicts of interest and incompatibility of duties of judicial office holders with other duties.

The conference concluded with a discussion of challenges and work results in processing war crimes cases, with a focus on resolving cases involving unavailable persons.

In the context of the challenges facing the judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina, President Bogunić said in his introductory address that we are at a moment that requires not only professional determination but also institutional maturity.

- The circumstances in which we operate, including political pressures and attempts to undermine the independence of the judiciary - especially those that come through various initiatives that threaten the constitutional order - call on us to be extra cautious, but also firm in preserving the foundations on which the rule of law rests - said Bogunić.



He also stated that the judiciary's response to all challenges must be professional, based on laws, the Constitution, and international standards, emphasizing that courts and prosecutor's offices must remain spaces of law, not politics.

The Head of the EU Delegation to BiH and EU Special Representative in BiH, Ambassador Luigi Soreca, addressing the heads of prosecutor's offices, emphasized that Bosnia and Herzegovina, due to the current crisis, is missing opportunities for progress on its European path.

- Any actions contrary to the constitutional order or attempts to undermine state institutions are actions against the rule of law. Such actions are unacceptable, especially in a country with candidate status for membership - said Soreca.

As he further emphasized, despite some progress in prosecuting corruption and organized crime, including cases against high-ranking officials, the judiciary must significantly increase its efforts.



- Although some progress has been made in prosecuting corruption and organized crime, including cases against high-ranking officials, the judiciary must significantly increase its efforts to secure final convictions and confiscate illicit assets in order to effectively combat entrenched corruption and pave the way for opening accession negotiations with the EU.

We will continue to use our assistance to support your efforts in fighting corruption and strengthening the rule of law - emphasized Soreca.

A number of conclusions were also adopted at the conference, which you can read below:

1. Chief prosecutors are called upon, in light of current events and attempts to undermine the fundamental principles of the rule of law, to respond to all challenges by consistently preserving professionalism and integrity, acting in accordance with the constitution, laws, and international standards;

2. Taking into account the achieved results of the prosecutor's offices in 2024, chief prosecutors are called upon, by focusing on the management of the prosecutor's office, through increased supervision of prosecutors' work, adequate resource allocation, work organization, and planning and monitoring the implementation of plans in the prosecutor's office they manage, to ensure the improvement of efficiency and quality of work;

3. Bearing in mind that a trend of a constant increase in the total number of unresolved cases and old unresolved cases has been observed in all prosecutor's offices in BiH, chief prosecutors are called upon to take concrete measures that will lead to the cessation of negative trends that largely burden the work of the prosecutorial system and the achievement of better results in the coming period;

4. The High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH welcomes the efforts of the prosecutorial system aimed at combating organized crime and corruption. Recognizing that the fight against this type of crime is crucial for strengthening citizens' trust in the judiciary, chief prosecutors are called upon to plan additional modalities of supervision over the resolution of organized crime and corruption cases, with a special focus on high-level organized crime and corruption cases;

5. Chief prosecutors are called upon to take all measures and activities to resolve corruption and organized crime cases as a priority, in the shortest possible time and with increased involvement of complex cases, but also to continuously insist on proactive work by prosecutors and the initiation of cases ex officio;

6. Aware of the fact that effective cooperation with police agencies is crucial for the quality resolution of corruption and organized crime cases, through the work of the Strategic Forum and operational cooperation forums, it is necessary to insist on greater proactivity of police agencies and authorized officials working on the detection of this type of criminal offense;

7. Regarding the confiscation of property benefits acquired through criminal offenses, the importance of identifying and confiscating assets in order to strengthen the rule of law is emphasized, as well as the need to consider the key principles from EU Directive No. 1260 of April 2024 on the recovery and confiscation of assets;

8. Prosecutor's offices will consistently apply the new criteria for evaluating the work of judicial office holders for 2025, which the HJPC of BiH adopted in order to implement recommendations for strengthening quality criteria in the system of evaluating the work of judicial office holders and the work of judicial institutions;

9. Given the fundamental role of judicial office holders in preserving the rule of law and public trust in the judicial system, issues of conflict of interest and incompatibility with other duties must be treated with the utmost care and consistency;

10. It is necessary to strengthen the awareness of judicial office holders about ethical standards, and to ensure that mechanisms for preventing and sanctioning conflicts of interest are effective, transparent, and independent;

11. The role of the HJPC is crucial in the consistent implementation of incompatibility rules and the preservation of judicial integrity;

12. Regular training of judicial office holders is recommended, as well as an institutional culture of zero tolerance for hidden or open forms of conflict of interest;

13. In order to prosecute all perpetrators of war crimes and achieve justice and fairness, war crimes cases involving unavailable persons must be prosecuted. At this moment, and in the absence of extradition possibilities, the transfer of war crimes cases with the procedural obstacle of the unavailability of the suspect/accused to countries in the region seems to be the only feasible way to bring these persons to justice.

The HJPC of BiH will continue its proactive engagement with the aim of improving regional cooperation at the political-diplomatic level with relevant executive authorities of neighboring countries in order to remove obstacles in the application of the current legal framework, and to undertake concrete activities in this regard in cooperation with the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts;

14. The HJPC of BiH calls on all chief prosecutors and court presidents to continue applying the general and individual acts of the HJPC of BiH, decisions and conclusions of the HJPC and the Supervisory Body, all in order to achieve the goals set by the Revised State Strategy for War Crimes Cases.