The detainees started their hunger strike on Monday, when 23 prisoners in the Kula prison outside Sarajevo refused food. They were joined on Tuesday by five detainees in the detention unit of the State Court.
Dusko Tadic, an attorney for one of the detainees, told the press the detainees were only taking water and medicines. The reason for the hunger strike is their request not to be tried according to Bosnia's existing laws but in line with former Yugoslav laws that were in force when they committed the crimes they are charged with.
The strikers include Momcilo Mandic, the war-time justice minister in the Bosnian Serb government, who was sentenced to nine years in prison for abuse of office regarding the operation of the Privredna Banka bank from the eastern part of Sarajevo.
The State Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina has also charged Mandic with war crimes, and the proceedings are under way.
The State Court had to postpone a hearing today at which four Bosnian Serbs charged with war crimes in Srebrenica were to have entered their pleas, the reason being the hunger strike.