veličina fonta

verzija za štampu

copyright

pošalji komentar

No Mandate Extension for International Judges and Prosecutors

04 September 2009  The State Parliament has not adopted changes and amendments to the Law on Court and Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which proposed an extension of the mandates of international judges and prosecutors.

The House of Representatives of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not vote in favour of the changes and amendments to the Law on the Court and Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which proposed an extension of the mandates of international judges and prosecutors working with those two institutions.

The proposed changes and amendments were the subject of heated debate, but there was no entity-level support when voting took place. Delegates from Republika Srpska voted against extending the mandates of international judges and prosecutors.

The changes and amendments to the law have not been sent to the Commission for harmonisation.

Under the proposed changes and amendments, the mandate of international judges with the second-instance chambers of the War Crimes Chamber with the State Court and prosecutors working with the War Crimes Section could be extended until the end of 2012.

International judges currently hearing first-instance war-crimes cases would complete those cases but would not be assigned new ones. At the same time international prosecutors would not be allowed to perform managerial functions or work on cases pertaining to organized and economic crime and corruption.  

Representatives of judicial institutions have pointed out on several occasions that it is necessary to extend the mandates of international judges and prosecutors.

Delegates from Republika Srpska, however, argued that "Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot be a fully sovereign state if foreign personnel work with its judicial institutions".  

"We are not satisfied with the fact that we have international judges and prosecutors working in the institutions, which have continuously used orchestrated political processes to put pressure on someone. We do not want to be under pressure when entering negotiations on important issues, such as the Constitution," said Milorad Zivkovic, Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives and a member of the Association of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD.

On the same day, Republika Srpska Prime Minister Milorad Dodik called for the abolition of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its Prosecution, saying that this is a condition for constitutional reform.