Source: justice-report.com
Author: Albina Sorguč BIRN BiH Sarajevo
The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has charged more than 600 persons with war crimes, and persons sentenced in the final instance were sentenced to 2,087 years of prison. According to the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so far convictions were handed down in case of more than 80% of war crimes cases for crimes committed against victims of all nationalities and in all parts of our country.
”605 persons were charged with war crimes. The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina is an institution with the largest number of accused of war crimes, even in global terms”, reads the press release from this judicial institution.
According to the release, at the end of last year, decisions were made in case of all category 2 cases, which were transferred from the Hague Tribunal to the judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina for further prosecution.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina stated that the primary mission of this institution was to prevent war crimes impunity. In addition to this, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina intensified regional cooperation. They emphasized in the release that good relations with prosecutor’s offices resulted in war criminals being prosecuted throughout the region.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina also stated that it was important that future generations, whose lives were impacted by war crimes atrocities and consequences, did not live in fear from perpetrators that move freely and that everyone who committed a crime had to get the punishment they deserve.
The War Crimes Division of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina employs around 100 prosecutors, investigators, legal associates and expert staff of all nationalities and from all parts of our country. They mentioned that over the past decade they worked on modest budgets, which were even ten or twenty times lower than those of international tribunals. The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina stated that they would continue working in the interest of rule of law.