There is no possibility of Bosnia organising war crime trials in accordance with standards demanded by the Hague tribunal before 1 January 2005, Fassier said in the letter which the tribunal's spokesman quoted from on Thursday in the weekly press briefing.
Fassier wrote that any premature referral of cases to Bosnian authorities before January could undermine the efforts currently being invested in preparing national courts for war crime trials. He strongly recommended against transferring any cases before next year.
Meron asked the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia for its opinion on the readiness of national courts to prosecute war crimes. Meron's request followed a proposal by the Hague tribunal prosecutor's office to refer to the Bosnian State Court in Sarajevo proceedings against Zeljko Mejakic and another three persons accused of crimes committed in Serb-held camps Omarska and Keraterm in the 1990s.