STILL NO CONSENSUS ON POLICE REFORM

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 29,2008) – The Bosnian Police Reform Work Group’s meeting lasted 12 hours on January 24, ending at midnight. However, no answers came out of it in connection to the responsibilities of main police bodies in the country.

According to a previous agreement of the six most influential political leaders in Bosnia, the police bodies should be formed as national.

The next meeting is expected in early February, but sources claim a consensus is not likely to happen even then. Two laws regulating the matter are supposed to be submitted to the Bosnian government by February 15.

THREE SERBIAN WAR CRIMINALS DETAINED IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 29,2008) – The Bosnian State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) detained yesterday in the eastern Bosnian town of Vlasenica three Serbian war criminals who committed war crimes against Bosnian civilians during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The Bosnian State Prosecutor's Office identified the suspects as Veljko Basic, 82, Predrag Bastah, 55, and Goran Viskovic, 54. They were wanted for war crimes committed against Bosnian civilians in the eastern Bosnian town of Vlasenica.

They are suspected of detaining Bosnian civilians in Vlasenica and its wider area, and taking them into the town's Susica detention facility, run by Basic.

More than 800 Bosnian civilians were murdered by the genocidal Serbian aggressor in the Susica prison in Vlasenica during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

TWO WITNESSES TESTIFIED BEFORE BOSNIAN STATE COURT AT TRIAL OF SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL MILORAD TRBIC

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 29,2008) – At the trial of genocide indictee Milorad Trbic, the Bosnian State Prosecutor has examined two witnesses.
Giving testimony at the Bosnian State Court yesterday were Desimir Djukanovic, former employee in the Communal Services Company in the eastern Bosnian town of Bratunac, and one protected witness, a former member of the genocidal Serbian aggressor's formations.

The indictment charges Serbian war criminal Milorad Trbic with having deliberately participated in the forcible deportation and mass murder of Bosnian civilians from the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica in the period from July 11 to November 1, 1995,during the Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

Djukanovic said he was told by Dragan Mirkovic, also known as Kinez, to collect bodies of murdered Bosnian civilians in front of the elementary school in Bratunac "one morning in July 1995.

"We packed the corpses into green and black bags. The bodies we collected were in the school and in its courtyard, in the streets and around the monument. We loaded them onto a tractor trailer. I do not know where they were driven from there," Djukanovic said.

In the course of the examination, a recording made on March 28, 2007 was played. The recording shows Djukanovic showing an investigator from the Bosnian 1`State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) the locations where the witness had found the corpses, and the location of the mass grave in Glogova.

The video recording showed the witness saying: "I found 15 to 20 bodies by the school side, seven in the vicinity of the gym and at least ten next to the monument. I saw at least a hundred corpses at the playground, but I did not collect those." He also said that two dredgers were "by the mass grave" all the time and, as soon as the tractors brought the corpses, the dredgers would cover them with earth.

In the courtroom, Djukanovic confirmed that the recording was authentic, but he kept giving contradictory answers concerning the locations at which he found the bodies and whether he personally visited the mass grave or heard about it from others.

Another,protected,witness said that, in July 1995, he saw Bosnian civilians being forced by the Serbian aggressor into the buses in Potocari. The buses took them to Bratunac, where he guarded them.

"That day, upon my return home, I saw tens of buses on the road leading to the school in Bratunac. The men who were in those buses seemed hungry, thirsty and scared. Some female civilians were standing by the buses. They cursed those men and wanted to batter at the buses, so we had to stop them from doing that," the witness said, adding that he saw some Serbian aggressor's soldiers taking five or six Bosnian civilians out of the school building in Bratunac and lining them up by the school wall".

"I heard shooting and I went back. Later on I saw three killed men at the playground," the witness added.

The trial of Serbian war criminal Milorad Trbic is due to continue before the Bosnian State Court on January 29.

FOREIGN INVESTORS COUNCIL RECOMMENDS 10 ECONOMIC REFORMS TO BOSNIAN AUTHORITIES

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 29,2008) – The Foreign Investors Council (FIC) recommended the Bosnian authorities 10 key reforms which could be completed until March 31 2008 with a purpose of creating a more positive ambience for foreign investments and business in Bosnia.

FIC was established in 2006 and it represents interests of foreign investors in Bosnia. At the moment, FIC has 22 members which investments in Bosnia amount to over 4 billion Bosnian Marks.

Among 10 key reforms, the Council recommends setup of central electronic business register and initialing of re-registration process of all business subjects in this register in order to eliminate old and inactive subjects in the court.

Relevant institutions in the business sector are invited to announce all measures and guidelines for receiving permits for all procedures where necessary.

FIC recommends compliance of legal procedures in the segment of profit tax in Bosnia, via strategy created for elimination of double taxation.

Among key reforms FIC recommends establishment of joint market for the Southeastern Europe as a foundation for economic growth and regional conference on ministers’ level in order to speed up the setup of this market.

FIC also asks the Bosnian authorities to reduce custom fees and customs proceedings in general, and to eliminate customs and non-customs barriers on all raw materials for production in Bosnia.