The closing ceremony on the occasion of completion of the reconstruction of the Palace of Justice, Sarajevo Cantonal and Sarajevo Municipal Courts building in Sarajevo, took place on 22 January 2010. The project was officially initiated in 2007, by signing the Memorandum of Understanding for mutual cooperation and support to implementation of the project between the Ministry of Justice of BiH, High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) of BiH, Delegation of the European Union to BiH, Government of Kingdom of Norway, Ministry of Justice and Administration of Sarajevo Canton, Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), Sarajevo Municipal and Sarajevo Cantonal Courts. Total investment in reconstruction of the  Palace of Justice amounted to 4.2 million euro, out of which the European Union provided 2 million euro,  while the remaining funds were allocated by the governments of the Kingdom of Norway, Sweden and the Sarajevo Canton.

“The reform of the judiciary sector is the EU’s priority in order to prepare Bosnia and Herzegovina for fulfilling the conditions for the accession into the European Union. During the past five years, the European Union financially supported this sector with over 20 million euro. We will continue our cooperation with the HJPC BiH and other judiciary institutions in the country because we strongly believe that the rule of law, protection of human rights and the efficient work of judiciary institutions are extremely important for BiH. Many courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina do not fulfill the basic requirements of the National Strategy for the Justice sector in BiH. Therefore local authorities should urgently prepare the National plan for resolving this issue”, stated Ambassador Dimitris Kourkoulas, Head of European Union Delegation to BiH.

This Project resulted in enhancing the functionality of the 100 years old building being shared between the two Courts, to enable their efficient operation. This included  construction of Additional court rooms in accordance with European standards, separation of public area and restricted areas of the courts, creation of proper registries and archives, etc. Also, the internal communication was improved and the conditions for efficient and independent work of the judges were created.

“Palace of Justice in Sarajevo is unique for its architecture and history. A large number of complex cases were processed in this building and many eminent judges worked here. The implementation of this project ensured the conditions for providing the best service to the citizens of the Sarajevo Canton”, stated Milorad Novković, President of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH.

Kingdom of Sweden government has been assisting Bosnia and Herzegovina for years in facilitating its rapprochement to the European Union and has provided significant assistance in the reform of judiciary system. 

“We are assisting Bosnia and Herzegovina in building the state and establishment of the rule of law. This ceremony marks the completion of a project for which we provided material assistance but we have to continue to work in the future on the reform of the judiciary system, which is one of preconditions for the accession of BiH into the European Union. In order for the judiciary to function properly, we need to work on reconciliation” stated Bosse Hedberg, Ambassador of Sweden to BiH.

Reconstruction of the Palace of Justice created excellent conditions for the work of the employees, as well as conditions for achieving better results and improving the services provided to the physical and legal entities.