A five-year analysis of the delivery of justice to the victims of war crimes finds that since 2005 some progress has been made. However, many illogical elements such as the nonexistence of a supreme court at the state level represent a serious obstacle to faster prosecution of many war criminals, the head of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) mission, Garry Robbins, said while presenting the report in the Bosnian capital on Thursday.
The most difficult war crimes cases are currently being dealt with by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which operates as a separate body inside the country's legal system because it has no powers over cases handled by other courts.
The president of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Medzida Kreso, said today that she fully supported the OSCE's recommendation to establish a state supreme court which would enable the completion of all cases before domestic courts instead of asking the European Court for Human Rights to pass final verdicts.
Kreso criticised frequent political attacks on the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina saying that they hampered the court's functioning and independence.
She, however, stopped short of mentioning the names of politicians who verbally attacked that judicial institution.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the State Attorney's Office have lately been targets of criticism from the Bosnian Serb entity, notably from the entity's president Milorad Dodik who had planned to hold a referendum challenging the legality of the work of that court and prosecutors. Dodik recently scrapped the referendum plan following international pressure.