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OSCE: Success of War Crimes Processing Endangered

By: Jasmina Djikoli

27 May 2010  

An OSCE report on Witness Protection and Support in War-Crimes Cases says, among other things, that Bosnia and Herzegovina has neither improved the position of victims and witnesses nor has it won their confidence in criminal proceedings and war-crimes cases.

The report, presented in Sarajevo on May 24, 2010, says that Bosnia and Herzegovina has not achieved any significant progress in implementing the State War Crimes Processing Strategy, whose key idea is ensuring "protection of, support for and equal treatment of all victims and witnesses at trials conducted before courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina".

OSCE says that statements given by witnesses, and particularly victim-witnesses, are the most important evidence at war-crimes trials and these testimonies were the key components of all successfully completed cases.

"Many people do not want to cooperate during the course of criminal proceedings because they fear revenge or experiencing the traumatic events again. In this way the State endangers the success of war-crimes processing," the Report, covering information on 184 war-crimes cases tried before Bosnian courts from 2004 to 2009, says.

"In many cases that were followed by the OSCE Mission, witnesses informed the Court about threats addressed to them or their family members or bribes offered to them, also stating that they were exposed to some sort of intimidation prior to and during the course of main trials," the Report states.

The OSCE mentions that judicial institutions often fail to take any action to determine the existence of such threats to witnesses or their seriousness. It further says that, until today, only three cases have been recorded in which an investigation or criminal prosecution was opened in relation to unlawful attempts to influence witnesses. They resulted in convictions.

The OSCE mentions the absence of structures for financial, logistical and psycho-social support for witnesses, particularly in Entity courts, as a major problem. Despite this, witnesses are obliged by courts to testify, although their testimonies are often related to traumatic events. Many of them testify several times, which can potentially lead to them experiencing trauma again.

Although the law foresees the provision of support to victims and witnesses, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only institution which has the capacity to offer psycho-social support to witnesses. Entity courts and prosecutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina do not have the structures necessary for offering such support at present.

"The Bosnian authorities should initiate concrete legal and systematic measures in order to address the absence of witness support programmes at the Entity level," this is one of the conclusions of the OSCE Report on Witness Protection and Support in War-Crimes Cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina.