SARAJEVO, Jan 14 (Hina) - A special department of the Bosnian Court in charge of war crimes trials might start working early in 2004, international officials announced in Sarajevo on Tuesday, adding the department's work would lie
with domestic judges and prosecutors, with assistance from foreign legal experts.
SARAJEVO, Jan 14 (Hina) - A special department of the Bosnian Court
in charge of war crimes trials might start working early in 2004,
international officials announced in Sarajevo on Tuesday, adding
the department's work would lie with domestic judges and
prosecutors, with assistance from foreign legal experts. #L#
A news conference was held by the international community's High
Representative in Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown, and the chief prosecutor
and the president of the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague --
Carla Del Ponte and Claude Jorda respectively.
Commenting on the course of a working conference addressing models
of prosecuting war crimes before domestic courts, the three
officials confirmed the international community was very serious
about this task and wanted to help authorities in Bosnia assume a
hefty share of the responsibility for such trials as soon as
possible.
A separate department for war crimes at the Court of Bosnia-
Herzegovina is a good solution both for the closure of the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
and for reinforcing Bosnia's legal sovereignty, said Jorda.
He stated the department would not be a "mini-Hague" but an
independent domestic institution, as envisaged by a U.N. Security
Council decision of July 2002.
The department would be based in Sarajevo and the majority of the
load would lie with domestic judges and prosecutors, who would have
international support which would gradually diminish, said Jorda.
ICTY chief prosecutor Del Ponte said it was yet to be established
how many investigations and trials would be in the hands of the
Bosnian judiciary. She added, however, that it would be more than
what the ICTY had tackled so far.
Del Ponte announced that in the future her office would file
indictments only against people to be tried in The Hague.
She mentioned two objectives -- dissuading those who think that not
all war crimes will be prosecuted and contributing to the
development of the justice system in Bosnia.
Ashdown said announcements that war crimes trials in Bosnia might
begin this year were premature. Several important points have to be
established in the meantime -- the scope of the work to be tackled by
the domestic judiciary, the role of local police in investigations,
and witness protection, he said.
Another important point is financing, which in the case of many war
criminals cannot be cheap, he said.
The Briton stressed, however, that all those responsible for war
crimes must be brought to justice, from those at the top of the
command chain to those who actually committed them.
He was confident Bosnian Serbs Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic
would be arrested soon, and confirmed he was ready to testify
against them at any moment.
(hina) ha