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Ending Impunity

Colak i Simonovic ; photo by: sarajevo-x.com

10 February 2010  Under an agreement signed by the Ministers of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia in Sarajevo, individuals with citizenship of both countries, who have been sentenced by second instance verdicts will not be able to avoid serving their sentences by fleeing to the other country.

On February 10, 2010 BiH Justice Minister Barisa Colak and Croatian Judiciary Minister Ivan Simonovic signed amendments to the Agreement on Mutual Execution of Court Decisions pertaining to Criminal Issues.  

The Agreement enables the application of prison sentences in the case of people with dual citizenship who have fled to one of the two countries after having second instance verdicts pronounced against them.

"By signing the amendments to the Agreement we are ending impunity and the misuse of dual citizenship to evade justice. Dual citizenship is useful to many of our citizens, but they must not be compromised by the misuse cases,"
Simonovic said.

According to the original Agreement signed by the two countries in 1996, a convict had to consent to being arrested and detained. Under the new regulations, the state to which the convict has fled must arrest and detain the convict. The convict will have an opportunity to choose where he will serve his sentence.

"Up to the present date, a person had to give consent in order for the sentence against him to be applied in another state. According to the new Agreement, the convict is obliged to serve his sentence irrespective of whether he resides in the country which pronounced the verdict or the other country, where he may be residing on the basis of citizenship of that country," Colak said.

The amendments to the Agreement do not target individuals who have fled to one of the two countries but against whom second instance verdicts have still to be pronounced. The Ministries of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia claim that both states are currently facing internal legal obstacles to extraditing individuals, but that they intend to cooperate by exchanging evidence and relinquish prosecutions.  

The current constitutional regulations forbid the countries to extradite their citizens to other countries for criminal processing.

The BiH Justice Minister said that about 100 people have fled from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Croatia after verdicts against them had been pronounced. He said that about 50 convicts from Croatia currently reside in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Agreement entered into force immediately after its signing. However, the first arrests are expected once the Ministries and Courts have exchanged the necessary information.  

"I know for sure that some people will not be able to relax after the signing of this Agreement, but they do not deserve to be in any case,"
Simonovic said.

Bosnia and Herzegovina will sign amendments to the Agreement on Mutual Execution of Court Decisions pertaining to Criminal Issues with Serbia in Belgrade on February 26, 2010.