BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY MEMBERS MET WITH DELEGATION OF ICTY ADVISORY COMMISSION

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (November 26,2007) - The Bosnian Presidency member Haris Silajdzic and Nebojsa Radmanovic, together with Head of the Bosnian President Zeljko Komsic’s Cabinet Amir Ibrovic, met in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo with a delegation of the Advisory Commission for Archives of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

The delegation of the ICTY Advisory Commission for Archives stressed that the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda should complete their work by 2010 and that the reason why the Advisory Commission has been established was to find a solution for archiving ICTY documents.

The ICTY has a vast archive and it will be needed even after 2010 by the domestic judiciary and other judicial structures in the world. Furthermore, its role is to serve history and reconciliation after everything that has happened.

Head of BiH the Bosnian President Zeljko Komsic’s Cabinet Amir Ibrovic informed the delegation about the position of the Bosnian President that the entire ICTY archive needs to be transferred to Bosnia, both for ethical and practical reasons.

A member of the Bosnian Presidency Haris Silajdzic said that the visit by the ICTY delegation is important because besides carrying an important judicial role the archives also carry another important role, namely truth.

He said that Sarajevo is the natural place for archiving ICTY document and that there will be many opportunities to make the archives available to judicial structures. Silajdzic said that for the purpose of truth, as well as researching history, the archive should be in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

A member of the Bosnian Presidency Nebojsa Radmanovic thinks that a large responsibility rests with the Advisory Commission because the archive is of different origin and he thinks that expert persons from the Court and the Commission will reach the final decision.