ICTY Prosecutor Serge Brammertz and Michela Matuella, Head of Unit for Bosnia and Herzegovina at DG Enlargement of the European Commission, jointly attended a session of the National War Crimes Strategy Supervisory Body on Thursday 13 November 2014 and addressed the members on a variety of relevant issues related to war crimes case processing.
Prosecutor Brammertz and Head of Unit Matuella expressed their support to the work of the Supervisory Body, which since its establishment in 2009, has played an important role in oversight of the processing of war crimes cases in BiH.
Addressing the remaining huge backlog of war crimes cases in BiH has been a clear priority since the launching of the EU-BiH Structured Dialogue on Justice. The ICTY and the EU have been closely coordinating their efforts within this framework and directly contributed to build the positive momentum that permitted an increased referral of war crimes cases from the state to the entities and the Brčko District, as well as improving regional cooperation in processing war crimes through the signing of cooperation protocols between the responsible Prosecutor’s Offices of BiH, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro.
The ICTY Prosecutor commended the Supervisory Body for its commitment to the process of war crimes prosecution in BiH, and highlighted that the Body in its reporting and recommendation often clearly identifies the obstacles facing the implementation in the National War Crimes Strategy. A problem the Prosecutor has identified as well is the continuing practice of the State Prosecutor’s Office to deal with more complex cases by breaking them up into several unconnected indictments. As the Supervisory Body itself concluded, the State Prosecutor Office needs to focus on the most complex cases.
Both insisted in their interventions that the relevant institutions and the prosecutor’s offices should give serious consideration to the recommendations and conclusions of the Supervisory Body and exert all efforts to implement these.
The Supervisory Body has been entrusted by the EU to advise on and oversee the use of 15 million euros of extraordinary budgetary support for war crimes cases processing over the coming 5 years. Following the release of the first tranche of 2.9 million euro, in the first six months of implementation, and in conjunction with domestically financed resources, results achieved are promising and confirm that a positive momentum has been created, in large part thanks to the quality of the Supervisory Body’s involvement and the leadership it has shown. Technical support provided by the OSCE has also been very beneficial to the 22 judicial and prosecutorial institutions benefitting from the IPA budgetary support.
However, perseverance and professionalism of prosecutor offices and courts have to be further secured if there is to be success in such a delicate and complex endeavour. Both the ICTY Office of the Prosecutor and the European Union remain fully committed to continue their support, but success will only be possible with the continuous commitment to carry on the tasks from the identified partners, primarily the Supervisory Body.
