WORKGROUP IN CHARGE OF POLICE REFORM IMPLEMENTATION LAWS' DEVELOPMENT ESTABLISHED

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 14,2007) – Leaders of the six most influential political parties in Bosnia agreed at a meeting held in Laktasi that the Bosnian Council of Ministers should nominate a workgroup for development of laws on the basis of which several institutions at the Bosnian state level will be formed and deal with police reform.Those institutions/bodies are as follows: Police Coordination Direction, Institute of Forensic Investigation, Institute for Training and Expert Schooling of Police Personnel, Police Support Agency, Independent Board, Board for Citizens’ Complaints and Board for Police Officers’ Complaints.

The workgroup will be made up of representative at the Bosnian state level from both the entities and State Border Police Director.

The Office of the International Community's High Representative in Bosnia (OHR) representatives, the EU Police Mission to Bosnia (EUPM) representatives and the US Embassy representatives will attend the meetings of this workgroup.

The Bosnian Prime Minister will nominate the head of the group, which is due to hold the first session by December 20.

The group is obliged to submit drafts of Laws to the Bosnian council of Ministers by February 15 at the latest.The workgroup is obliged to inform in writing once in 15 days the Bosnian Prime Minister on the results of their work. Meetings will be held once a week at least.

They will decide on the issues through a consensus. Political leaders emphasized that this workgroup will implement the Mostar Declaration Action Plan for the purpose of implementing the obligations necessary for initialing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between Bosnia and the European Union (SAA) adopted by the Bosnian Government at the session held December 3.

The Bosnian Ministry of Security will offer all the logistic and technical assistance necessary for the workgroup’s activities and the Bosnian Prime Minister will inform the public on the results of its work.

The most influential political parties’ leaders in Bosnia also agreed that they will oblige their ministers and delegates to actively contribute the process of adoption of the 2008 budget by the end of this year.

They also agreed to solve the state property issues by late February 2008 in order to move ahead prior to the Pace Implementation Council (PIC) session.

The following meeting of the main political parties’ leaders in Bosnia will be held in the southern Bosnian town of Siroki Brijeg somewhere between January 20 and 26 2008.

As a reminder, at the meeting held in Laktasi, the following was agreed: Nikola Spiric is again Bosnia's Prime Minister, The members of the Bosnian Council of Ministers will remain the same, all the nominations should be confirmed by the Bosnian State Presidency and the Bosnian State Parliament as soon as possible.

BISCEVIC PRESENTS TO HADZIKAPETANOVIC OFFICIAL DECISION ON START OF ACTIVITIES OF RCC GENERAL SECRETARIAT

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 14,2007) – The Bosnian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary Adnan Hadzikapetanovic met with Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) General Secretary Hidajet Biscevic in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

Biscevic presented to him the official decision on the start of work by the RCC General Secretariat based in Sarajevo, the Bosnian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated.

The RCC became operational on December 5. Biscevic informed Hadzikapetanovic about the structure of the RCC and its first activities.

Hadzikapetanovic again expressed satisfaction with the fact that Sarajevo and Bosnia have been selected as the hosts for the RCC. He also welcomed and wished success in his work to General Secretary Biscevic.

Hadzikapetanovic underlined the readiness of the Bosnian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other Bosnian state institutions to provide necessary support and assistance for the professional and successful functioning of this organisation.

FBiH ENTITY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APPROVED BUDGET REBALANCE

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 14,2007) – The FBiH Entity House of Representatives approved at a special session the rebalance of the FBiH Entity Budget for 2007, which was tabled by the FBiH Entity Government in order to ensure 40,7 million Bosnian Marks which are lacking for the payment of benefits to unemployed demobilised soldiers in the last quarter of 2007.

The overall rebalance remains at the same level of 1,586 billion Bosnian Marks and there will no increases of the budget”, the FBiH Entity Minister of Finance Vjekoslav Bevanda said and added that all ministries will have to plan cuts in certain segments.

The FBiH Entity Government forwarded the proposal of the rebalance to the parliament in urgent procedure.

Opposition parties described as unfortunate the fact that veterans in the FBiH Entity are forced to use pressure towards the authorities to ensure that they get what they are entitled to under the relevant law, i.e. the Law on the Rights of Demobilised Soldiers, which was adopted by the the FBiH Entity Parliament in the previous mandate just before the elections in October last year.

The opposition then said that the adoption of the law was no more than a pre-election stunt and problems in its implementation prove this.

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) Caucus unsuccessfully proposed a conclusion that would task the FBiH Entity Government to plan in the budget for next year enough funds for the implementation of this law.

The parliamentary majority and the FBiH Entity Prime Minister Nedzad Brankovic rejected this proposal. He urged delegates to reject this conclusion formulated in such a way and stressed that the FBiH Entity Government is not the only institution in the FBiH Entity participating in the implementation of this law.

The adoption of this conclusion would amnesty other cantonal institutions, including employment bureaus, which are also responsible for its implementation, Brankovic said.

HAGUE INDICTEES TO TESTIFY BEFORE BOSNIAN STATE COURT

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 14,2007) - The Defence teams of Serbian war criminals Zdravko Bozic, Mladen Blagojevic, Zeljko Zaric and Zoran Zivanovic charged with crimes committed against Bosnian civilians in the eastern Bosnian town of Bratunac in July 1995,during the Serbian aggression against Bosnia, said that they will deny that their clients participated in an joint criminal enterprise.

Attorneys representing four former members of the genocidal paramilitary formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS) have also announced that they would like to examine joint witnesses in the course of the evidence presentation process.

This will include the examination of Serbian war criminals who are currently serving sentences after having been convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague for crimes committed in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The Defence teams would like to examine Serbian war criminals,former commanders of the genocidal Serbian aggressor's formations, Radislav Krstic, who was sentenced to 35 years' imprisonment; Vidoje Blagojevic who was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment, and Momir Nikolic, who was sentenced to 20 years.

Attorney Stanko Petrovic said that the defence team expected the ICTY convicts to say that Serbian war criminals "Zdravko Bozic, Mladen Blagojevic, Zeljko Zaric and Zoran Zivanovic did not participate in joint criminal enterprise" as alleged in the indictment filed by the Bosnian State Prosecutor.

Serbian war criminals Zdravko Bozic, Mladen Blagojevic, Zeljko Zaric and Zoran Zivanovic, as members of the genocidal Serbian aggressor's formations, are charged with having murdered a number of Bosnian civilians in Bratunac on July 13 and 14, 1995,during the Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The indictment alleges that between 2,000 and 3,000 Bosnian civilians were detaind by the genocidal Serbian aggressor in the school building in Bratunac.

One of the joint witnesses the defence teams intend to invite is Aleksander Robert Franken, former deputy commander of the Dutch Battalion that was stationed in Srebrenica in July 1995.

The Defence also intends to invite court expert Radislav Radinovic from Belgrade, who was involved as analyst in the Krstic case processed by the ICTY. Radinovic is expected to determine that the indictees were not members of a joint criminal enterprise.

Miroslav Ristic, defence attorney of Serbian war criminal Mladen Blagojevic, asked the Trial Chamber to "provide some financial resources, because Radinovic has asked for an advance payment in order to prepare findings and opinion and come to Sarajevo to present them".

The Defence teams will also individually invite certain witnesses.

Most of them are former members of the genocidal formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia, whom the Bosnian State Prosecutor examined during the investigation, but it did not use their statements in its evidence presentation process. The defence intends to invite some prosecution witnesses, who have already testified, to testify again on other matters.

Serbian war crimianl Zeljko Zaric's defence intends to invite Serbian war criminal Milorad Trbic, who is currently on trial before the Bosnian State Court of BiH on genocide charges relating to events in the Srebrenica area.

The trial of Serbian war criminals Zdravko Bozic, Mladen Blagojevic, Zeljko Zaric and Zoran Zivanovicis due to continue before the Bosnian State Court on December 18, when the first defence witness, will be examined.

THREE SERBIAN WAR CRIMINALS CHARGED WITH CRIMES COMMITTED IN KALINOVIK PLEADED NOT GUILTY BEFORE BOSNIAN STATE COURT

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 14,2007) - Serbian war criminals Ratko Bundalo, Nedjo Zeljaja and Djordjislav Askraba have pleaded not guilty before the Bosnian State Court yesterday to all counts in the indictment filed by the Bosnian State Prosecutior.

The Bosnian State Prosecution considers the three Serbian war criminals responsible for crimes against humanity committed against Bosnian civilians in the Kalinovik area,during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia. Serbian war criminals Bundalo, Askraba and Zeljaja are charged under four counts with having committed war crimes from April 1992 to March 1993.

The indictment alleges that Serbian war criminals Ratko Bundalo, Nedjo Zeljaja and Djordjislav Askraba were "deliberate participants in the joint criminal enterprise", together with other members of the genocidal Serbian aggressor's formations.

The indictment describes the crimes committed against Bosnian civilians from Jelec village in Foca municipality, Mjehovina, Jelasica, Vihovici and Jezero villages in Kalinovik municipality and other villages in Gacko municipality.

HEAD OF OSCE MISSION TO BOSNIA DOUGLAS DAVIDSON VISITED ZEPCE

ZEPCE, Bosnia (December 14,2007) - "The municipality of Zepce is a vibrant local community in which democracy is on a level that is able to ensure that all issues of returnee communities who live in this area will be solved," said Douglas Davidson, Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia in Zepce.

Ambassador Davidson and Zepce Mayor Mato Zovko visited returnee settlement, Zeleca.The biggest issue for returnees is unemployment which complicates sustainable return and the life of people in these settlements.

In settlement Preko, where there has been a full return but problems are similar. Ambassador Davidson in his first visit to Zepce promised his assistance to returnees for a sustainable return and said that he is satisfied with the attitude of local authorities, which are committed to providing more assistance to returnees through encouraging agriculture and small businesses.

The municipality of Zepce is one of the first municipalities in Bosnia that completely implemented Anex 7 of the Dayton Peace Agreement, enabling return of all citizens to their homes and the return of their property.

However, unemployment is the biggest issue facing returnee citizens, said Mayor Zovko. For the next year the municipal authorities plan to allocate more funds toward addressing this problem and also provide better infrastructure assistance to returnees in Zeleca.