DEVELOPING A STATE STRATEGY FOR PROCESSING OF WAR CRIMES IS A PRIORITY

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (February 28,2008) – Development of state strategy for processing cases of war crimes and development of a catalogue of all war crimes in Bosnia are the priorities that will help a faster processing of war crimes in Bosnia, participants of the conference of chief prosecutors and prosecutors in charge of cases of war crimes stated in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

The Bosnian Deputy Chief Prosecutor and Prosecutor of the Special Department of War Crimes Milorad Barasin expects that Bosnia should soon get a state strategy for processing the war crimes.

Draft of the strategy should be submitted to the Bosnian Council of Ministers for adoption in the first half of 2008, Barasin hopes.

This document, partially developed by the Bosnian State Prosecutor’s Office, will define models for an accelerated and more efficient solving of the cases. It will also determine priorities for the cases that are yet to be solved.

”That is a very important issue, for solving of those cases and of all the issues that are related to war crimes greatly influences co-existence and creation of a legal state”, Barasin is of the opinion.

He emphasized the importance of war crimes’ catalogue, which should contain a list that will serve as a base for development of state strategy and solving of all cases of war crimes.

Barasin could not give any concrete details to the press about the number of war crimes cases in Bosnia, keepinh in mind the fact that the figures vary daily. An inventory of all the cases should be made and then decide on the priorities, he added.

Also, there are war crimes that have not yet been discovered and reported. Some of them are discovered and reported on the daily basis through the law implementation agencies.

Barasin named another problem in the process of solving the cases – the lack of material evidence. It is hard to obtain them, so investigations and all other procedures are conducted on the basis of witnesses’ statements.

It is unknown how many indictments are to be raised this year at the Bosnian State Prosecutor’s Office. Barasin stated that all the cases “are enormous” and that he would be satisfied if “every prosecutor rose an indictment per a year”.

The Bosnian State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) Deputy Head Miroslav Pejcinovic stated that the agency has been executing per 580 orders annually. 25 persons have been arrested, mainly on the basis of the state Prosecutor’s Office. In January, four persons were arrested.

Pejcinovic emphasized that a difficulty is that the witnesses are scattered throughout Bosnia or in the foreign countries.

Also, some of the archives were eliminated and that resulted in unavailability of some data on possible war crimes perpetrators.
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