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Bosnia Budget Cuts Pose Threat to War Crime Trials

Merima Husejnovic i Denis Dzidic

Sud BiH

26 November 2009  State Court fears its work will be affected unless the authorities consider its requests for increase in funding.

Bosnian judicial officials fear cuts in spending may have a determinental effect on the work of the courts. Their fears stem from the fact that at the beginning of November the Council of Ministers discussed the budget for various state institutions for the coming year, as a result of which a proposal has been sent to parliament for
discussion.

Meddzida Kreso, President of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, says reductions in the budget can already be “perceived in all sectors”, and voices concern that if this trend continues, it might lead, among other things, to reductions in the number of witnesses invited to testify at war crime trials, thus affecting the course of those
trials.

“This is a real reflection of the way that the state treats this institution," she says of the Court. "It is well known that witnesses are important for court proceedings. If we start economize in this field, we shall soon bring into question the Court’s integrity and the expediency of our work.

"I cannot imagine what might happen if cases begin to ‘collapse’ due to the lack of financial resources,” Kreso told Justice Report.

On the other hand, the State Prosecution says budget reductions have not yet affected its work, or the implementation of the State War Crimes Processing Strategy, though it fears its work may be affected
if there are bigger cuts in future.

Representatives of the international community sympathise with concerns about the budget for the courts. They also suggest there is a lack of understanding on the part of the authorities when it come  to the needs of judicial institutions and say it is time for Bosnian politicians to make their contribution to the rule of law by
supporting the work of the State Court and its Prosecution.

“Sadly the authorities are reducing the State Court budget instead of increasing resources allocated for the judiciary," complains Raffi Gregorian, the Deputy High Representative. "They have decided to ignore the recommendations of the EU, the Hague Tribunal, the Peace Implementation Council and professionals in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"By doing this, they have become responsible for imperiling the implementation of justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while at the same time reducing their own credibility in front of the citizens of this country.”


A paradoxical situation:

Although parliament adopted the War Crimes Processing Strategy back in December 2008, in January 2009 parliament allocated a budget for the the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina that was more than 2 million less
Konvertible Marks, KM (around 1 million euro), than the court requested. The Court had asked for nearly 13 million KM (around 6,5 million euro( for this year but only about 10.5 million (around 5 million euro) was approved.

Judge Minka Kreho, one of the signatories to the Strategy, on behalf of the State Court, said that trial chambers sitting in war crime cases were, as a result, being forced to “consider how many witnesses they can invite to hearings or whether they will invite witnesses who live in other countries”.

“The War Crimes Processing Strategy calls for an increase in the courts' financial resources and human capacities (to enable them to complete the processing of war crimes cases between the next seven to 15 years)," Kreso said. "This is one of the paradoxes of this situation. The state has adopted the Strategy but it has failed to secure resources for its implementation."

Unlike the State Court, the State Prosecution says that the reduction to its own budget by 164,000 KM (around 80,000 euro) has not affected implementation of the Strategy but has only affected the salaries and fees of employees, as well as some “operational and material expenditures”.

“The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina has continued its work," said Boris Grubesic, a spokesperson. "Thanks to our efforts, the budget reduction has not led to any reduction of the number of investigations and indictments, though any further budget reductions in future might have a negative effect on our work,”

In its report in 2008, the Office for Audit of Bosnian Institutions noted that the State Prosecution was guilty of “non-efficient use of reserved budgetary resources”.

“As a result of inadequate planning, more resources are reserved for normal functioning and executing the legal functions than are needed," the report said. "At the same time, certain projects might not have been planned or executed by other institutions in the current year due to the lack of financial resources."

Many judicial representatives, as well as members of the international community, interpret the reductions in the budget for the courts as evidence of official pressure on those institutions, particularly because they come at a time when many international judicial staff are starting to leave.

As per an agreed Exit Strategy, all international judges and  prosecutors are due to leave Bosnia by the end of December. Beyond this date, the State Court and Prosecution should be staffed by local personnel only. Although a proposal was made for changes and amendments to the Law on the State Court and Prosecution, proposing the extension of the foreign staff member mandates, the State Parliament did not adopt it.


Uncertain future:

Kreso says the reduction to the State Court’s budget is one reason why international personnel should stay on in Bosnia, “because no resources have been allocated for recruiting their replacements.

“We shall face the real problem from January next year, when we shall no longer have the support of the Registrar’s Office and international judges while the State Court’s budget will remain as it is. "Unless
something changes in the meantime, nine international judges will leave on December 15. We do not have resources for their replacements,” she clarified

The Registrar’s Office, established in 2004, offers administrative and legal support to the State Court and its Prosecution. It also supports the international personnel. The Registrar’s Office transitional plan foresees the integration of the institution’s personnel and property ownership into the State Court, Prosecution and Ministry of Justice.

According to the Registar's Office, “The integration of personnel has been almost done. However, due to the decrease of the State Court and Prosecution’s budgets in comparison to their requirements, the transitional process has faced a deadlock during 2009.

" We can expect the process to continue in 2010, unless the budget allocated for judicial institutions is further increased in comparison to the budget draft proposals for 2010," it said.
 
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina says that this is not the first time the budget approved for the institution is smaller than what is required. They say the institution coped with the situation in previous years because the number of new cases was then much smaller than today.

“War crimes processing has been significantly amplified since last year, and the number of cases is increasing. Therefore, reducing the budget constitutes a problem to the State Court’s functionality,” Kreso explained.

The Office for Audit of Bosnian Institutions has noted the increase in costs in comparison to 2007. In its audit report, made in 2008, it said that this was “caused by completion of cases conducted before the Court.

“This data indicates that, in planning the budget, this aspect is partially beyond the Court’s influence, as it depends on various factors. (...), but it also points to the uncertainty and risk caused by the fact that the amount and structure of the approved budget may not be sufficient for covering the expenditures in the coming
periods,” the Report says.

Of more than 70 cases opened before the War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina since the beginning of its work in 2004, 23 indictments were filed in 2008, while one third of first and second instance verdicts were rendered during the course of this year. At present 16 trials, covering 41 indictees, are underway.

“Inevitably a number of cases will remain pending, because over the past two years the Court of Ministers has failed to secure the resources needed for training, testing and recruiting local personnel to replace the outgoing international staff members, who are paid by international donors,” Gregorian noted.

Boris Grubesic said the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina “sincerely hopes” that the need for international prosecutors and extension to remain will be recognized in Bosnia and their engagement will continue beyond 2009. “However, due to the possible reduction of the number of international prosecutors, we have asked for a budget increase for next year,” he said.

 “Politicians like to say that they support the rule of law. This is an opportunity for them to demonstrate their support to Bosnian rule of law institutions by upholding the request made by the State Court and its Prosecution. It is impossible for the Ministers to believe they know what the State Court and Prosecution need better than the leaders of those institutions,” Gregorian concluded

Merima Husejnovic and Denis Dzidiz are BIRN's Justice Report journalists. Justice Report is weekly BIRN online publication.