HJPC: One Third of War Crimes Suspects Unavailable

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HJPC BiH) at its session discussed issues of war crimes prosecution. As stated, in war crimes cases before the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, 30 percent of persons are unavailable, and these are currently unsolvable cases, Detektor.ba reports, as carried by the Novinska agencija Patria.

It was recommended to organize a regional conference at the highest level where this issue would be considered. HJPC members reviewed last year's report on work on war crimes cases in prosecutor's offices and courts, as well as the thematic report of the OSCE Mission “Management of War Crimes Cases in Proceedings before the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.”

Ružica Jukić asked colleagues from the Standing Committee for Efficiency of Prosecutor's Offices about the return of indictments of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH for revision, and even requests to charge certain individuals, which, as she stated, is not in accordance with the law.

Slavo Lakić said that the Standing Committee dealt with the multiple returns of indictments even before the OSCE report and that there are different interpretations of that issue. Željka Radović said that indictments must be finalized within the given deadline and that the law does not allow for the indefinite return of indictments.

Goran Nezirović commented on the OSCE conclusions about the decline in convictions since 2016, the waste of financial and human resources, fragmentation, and separation of cases. He assessed that the HJPC should take a stance on these issues or state that it cannot take a stance.

Slavko Lakić said he does not want to discuss certain issues at the Council session, emphasizing that these are matters that should be discussed openly at expert meetings.

When asked by Ružica Jukić whether the disputed separations of cases were lawful or not and in what percentage, Željka Radović said that the Standing Committee is not an arbiter between the Prosecutor's Office of BiH and the OSCE. Chief prosecutors submit reports on the separation of cases to the Standing Committee.

Mahmut Švraka said that work is being done to resolve the problem of unjustified separation of cases. He added that he considers it unacceptable that, when separating cases due to the death of a suspect, the prosecutor receives a more significant percentage in meeting the norm.

The HJPC adopted conclusions regarding two recommendations from the OSCE report related to this institution. Regarding the first recommendation on disciplinary responsibility in case of non-compliance with measures prescribed by the State Strategy, it was concluded that this is already included in the revised strategy, whose adoption is expected.

Regarding the recommendation that appointments be based on relevant experience and that the required level and field of expertise for a specific position be specified, it was concluded that this recommendation is already fulfilled by the envisaged procedures.

The election of two deputy chief prosecutors of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH was postponed to the next session, as one of the registered candidates was unable to attend the interview.

At the session, the opinion was unanimously adopted that the results of the work of the Supreme Court of the Federation of BiH and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH in 2018 were satisfactory.