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Zenica: Fear Puts War Crimes Trials in Danger

Local Justice under the Spotlight: Zenica Doboj Canton

Zenica 1 120

14 November 2007  The judiciary in Zenica faces a number of problems in the processing of war crime indictees ˆ and solutions are hard to find.

By Jelena Mrkic-Bjelovic in Zenica

Poor work conditions and difficulties in finding witnesses are the biggest obstacles for war crimes trials before the Cantonal judicial authorities in Zenica, central Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As a consequence, some trials conducted before the Cantonal Court in Zenica have lasted for a few years while, in some cases, retrials were ordered.

Local judges and prosecutors argue that one possible solution would be to process all war crime cases before the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to establish state prosecution departments within cantonal prosecutors' offices.

The Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Zenica was established in March 2004, when it took over 14 war crime investigations from the former prosecutor’s office here and opened five new investigations.

The prosecutor’s office in Zenica and the Cantonal Court, which was also established in 2004 cover the central Bosnian cities of Zenica, Kakanj, Visoko, Breza, Vares, Olovo, Maglaj, Zavidovici, Zepce, Tesanj, Doboj-South and Usora.

The cities and villages of this region saw all three armies fighting each other during the 1992-95 war - the Army of BiH (ABiH), the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and the Republika Srpska Army (VRS).

Around 9,000 people were killed or are still counted as missing in the region, according to data available to the Research and Documentation Centre (IDC), a non-governmental organisation from Sarajevo.

Small number of cases

Some of the biggest crimes committed in the canton have been processed before the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

ICTY sentenced former HVO member Ivica Rajic to 12 years' imprisonment for crimes committed against Bosniaks, including the attack on Stupni Do village near Vares in 1993.

Enver Hadzihasanovic, the former commander of the Third Corps of ABiH and Amir Kubura, commander of the 7th Brigade with the Third Corps, were sentenced to five and two and a half years' imprisonment respectively for violation of laws and customs of war, partially committed on the territory of this Canton. Appeals have been filed against these first instance verdicts, and the ICTY's Appellate Chamber is currently considering the case.

But only a few cases have dealt with crimes committed on the territory of Zenica Doboj Canton before local judicial authorities.

During the war, the cases were under the jurisdiction of the Higher Court in Zenica, which tried civilians who had perpetrated war crimes. The Regional Military Court was in charge of trials against military personnel. At that time, and immediately after the war, four verdicts were pronounced while one trial was dismissed.

As was the case in other cantons, the Cantonal Court and Cantonal Prosecutor's Office took over the war crimes cases upon establishment in 2004.

In the three years since it was established, the Cantonal Court has passed five verdicts, of which two are legally binding.

One of the major cases dealt with the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Zenica was that of the "Zepce Group", which was taken over by the state Prosecution in September this year.

According to data collected in the course of that investigation, about 100 persons were killed in Zepce and the surrounding villages, around 4,500 were held in detention camps, while about 9,000 were deported during the conflict between HVO and ABiH conducted in 1993.

On June 30, 1993, 50 prisoners were killed in detention camps established by HVO. Of this number, 17 people were killed in detention camps established in the city of Zepce, according to preliminary investigation findings.

The Prosecution of BiH also took over the case of Predrag Kujundzic, who is alleged to have, as a leader of paramilitary group “Predo's wolves", ordered and participated in the murder, rape and deportation of Bosniaks and Croats on the territory of Doboj municipality.

Niset Armic, a former ABiH member who was sentenced by the State Court to 30 years imprisonment for crimes against Serbian civilians committed on the territory of Visoko, was also investigated by prosecutors from Zenica.

The Prosecution of BiH is currently evaluating five more cases investigated by their colleagues in Zenica for possible transfer to the State Court.

Self-education of judges and prosecutors

Three prosecutors and a section chief are employed in the War Crimes Section of the Prosecutor's Office of Zenica Doboj Canton.

Zenica

Seventeen judges are employed in the Cantonal Court, working in two sections - criminal and civil of which four are employed in the criminal section, while one more judge is engaged if need be. The Trial Chamber is composed of three judges.

The three criminal section judges process all criminal cases, including war crime ones.

In addition to a small number of judges and prosecutors, those who dealt with war crime did not get, in the beginning, the training needed to deal with such complex cases.

Muris Hadziselimovic, the Chief Cantonal Prosecutor has told Justice Report that the prosecutors have regular consultations in order to be able to "tackle" the problems related to these cases.

"We did not deal with war crime cases earlier. We obtained the relevant literature by asking the people who had it to give it to us," said Hadziselimovic.

He said that lack of investigative capacities is one of the main reasons for the small number of war crime cases started by this Prosecutor's Office.

"We have to improvise. We do not have additional resources, equipment or staff," says Hadziselimovic.

In addition, the prosecutors employed in the War Crimes Section also deal with all other cases.

According to Court President Faik Spahic, the work conditions in the court are poor and its capacities are limited.

"We are ready to process war crimes cases, but only to a maximum of three accused per case," he said.

"We only have one courtroom, which is adequate for the processing of several indictees. But, if there are four indictees, we do not have good conditions for a trial due to lack of space."

Since 2004, the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office has filed two indictments for war crimes against civilians, while three indictments were "inherited" from the former Cantonal Prosecutor's Office.

"We have concluded five cases. Second instance verdicts have been passed in some of them, while others are undergoing an appeal process before the Supreme Court of the Federation," said Redzo Delic, Chief of the War Crimes Section with the Prosecutor's Office.

In May 2000, a second instance verdict was pronounced in the case of Tomo Mihajlovic, a former RS policeman, sentencing him to four years imprisonment for crimes committed against the non-Serb population in Teslic area in 1992.

In June 2006, another second instance verdict was pronounced against Edin Semic, acquitting him of charges of involvement in the murder of Serbs in Visoko. Again, the Supreme Court confirmed the verdict passed by the Cantonal Court.

In the case of "Sabahudin Operta et al", six Bosniaks were acquitted of charges by a first instance verdict pronounced in June this year. The indictment charged them with having committed war crimes against captured HVO members from Vares from November 1993 to March 1994. The prosecution has appealed the verdict of release.

In July 2005, a first instance verdict was pronounced in the case of Edin Hakanovic, who was acquitted of charges of war crimes against civilians committed in Dusina, Visnjica and Lasva villages, Zenica municipality, in January 1993. An appeal has been filed against this verdict.

The cantonal court passed down a verdict sentencing Dominik "Como" Ilijasevic to 15 years' imprisonment, after finding him guilty of four charges of war crimes. One of them charged him with having participated, as a member of the "Maturice" special purpose squad within HVO, in the murder of 38 civilians in Stupni Do village on October 23, 1993.

No war crime processes are underway before this court at present, but the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Zenica has announced that two new indictments are expected by the end of the year.

Witnesses are afraid of telling the truth

Judge Faik Spahic says that the verdicts of release were passed due to a lack of evidence.

He confirmed that one of the biggest problems in obtaining evidence is bringing witnesses to courtrooms.

"It is hard to find an eye-witness," Spahic said. "Much time has passed. Some witnesses are displaced, some have died and others were killed."

However, even when witnesses are available, the prosecution's problems are not solved.

Justice Report has been told that many witnesses are afraid for their safety, and therefore they often change their statements or do not tell the truth before the court.

"People are afraid. They do not dare say the truth," Spahic said.

"They say something in the course of the investigation, but then change their statements during their testimony, and the court finds it difficult to figure out which statements are correct.

"We have fewer reliable witnesses every day. And the lack of evidence is the main reason why we have to acquit the indictees of charges".

Tomo Mihajlovic was acquitted of a rape charge due to a lack of evidence. The key witness, who claimed that the indictee had raped her, gave her testimony without any protection measures.

She was not the only one. The Cantonal Court in Zenica does not offer protection to the witnesses attending its trials.

"We do not have experience concerning the witness protection," said Delic.

Court representatives have told Justice Report that there is a possibility that special chambers could examine witnesses who wish to be protected, although no such requests have been received so far.

Nevertheless, the Prosecutor's Office considers that there are other problems concerning witnesses.

Hadziselimovic said: "We are not satisfied with how the trial chambers treat the witnesses. As far as I know, witnesses are 'maltreated' and bombarded by various questions, e.g. how did a person look like and how tall he/she was 15 years ago, was his uniform multi-coloured or green etc."

"We think this is maltreatment. You cannot ask for so many details," Delic claims.

Witnesses are afraid of appearing in courtrooms to such extent that they often refuse to come.

Justice Report is told that, in some instances, the court has ordered the apprehension of witnesses by the Court Police.

Sources in Zenica claim that the statements given by witnesses under such circumstances were not useful for the process, because they claimed they did not remember the events in question or that they had not been present at the scene when the crime had been committed.

Interruptions and exceeded duration of proceedings

For this and other reasons, some trials have lasted much longer than they should normally have.

In the Ilijasevic case, the investigation was opened in 2000, the indictment was filed in 2001, the trial started in 2002, and the first instance verdict was pronounced as late as May 2007.

Delays were caused by a number of reasons, such as difficulties in securing witnesses, their refusal to appear in the courtroom, and the appointment of judges and prosecutors, which led to the dismissal of some trials.

In the Ilijasevic case, the process was prolonged due to the death of a member of the jury, and the fact that the indictee initially exercised his right to remain silent and, in the last phase of the process, decided to defend himself and invite witnesses.

In other cases conducted under the Criminal Procedure Code of the Federation of BiH from 1998, significant delays were noticed, although they were typical for processes conducted according to that law.

After the new Law on Criminal Procedure and Criminal Code of the Federation of BiH was passed in 2003, the Court in Zenica decided to process severe international law violations according to those new laws.

The punishments prescribed by the Criminal Code of the Federation of BiH range from five to 15 years imprisonment.

The Law on Criminal Procedure of the Federation of BiH from 2003 imposes urgency in the evidence presentation process.

Three cases processed according to that law were completed within the legally set timeframe.

Representatives of the judiciary in Zenica reiterate that the non-harmonised application of criminal laws is an urgent problem that has to be solved.

They suggest that a unified law be adopted at the state level, and the Prosecutor's Office has some other ideas for solving of the problems facing the local judiciary in Zenica.

"We have suggested that the Prosecution of BiH be in charge and take over all war crime cases," said Hadziselimovic.

"Alternatively, the existing sections and prosecutors working locally on war crimes should be attached to the Prosecution of BiH, and we should get new prosecutors to deal with other cases," he adds.

Faik Spahic thinks that the non-harmonised court practice is the biggest obstacle: "Some areas are not regulated in the same way, and there are different interpretations, so we do not have a unified court practice."

"The non-harmonised court practice is the biggest issue, because the criteria used in the passing of verdicts and establishing the factual status are not the same, and this is particularly visible when it comes to decisions by appellate chambers," he concluded.

Jelena Mrkic-Bjelovic is a journalist with Justice Report. Justice Report is online publication of BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina. This article has been produced as part of BIRN's Justice Series project "Local Justice under Spotlight", which has been made possible by the support of American people through USAID.