Serbian legal practitioners dealing with war crimes visit Bosnia and Herzegovina to exchange regional experiences in war crimes processing

A group of judges, prosecutors and defence councils from Serbia dealing with war crimes paid a visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 16 to 19 May 2023.

The study visit, aiming to provide a forum of exchange of regional experiences in war crimes processing, was organized by the OSCE Mission to Serbia, within the multi-partner project Facility supporting the Strengthening Rule of Law in the Republic of Serbia, financed by the EU and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and development (BMZ), whose implementation is in charge of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, ADA, CPMA and OSCE Mission to Serbia.

The 11 participants, included judges, judicial assistants and judicial associates of Belgrade’s High Court and the Court of Appeals, prosecutors, prosecutorial assistants and prosecutorial advisors of the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office, as well as defence lawyers dealing with war crimes cases.

The group met with their counterparts from the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federal Prosecutor's Office of Federation of BiH, the District Court of East Sarajevo, the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) and the Department of Criminal Defence (OKO) within the Ministry of Justice.

The attendees also visited the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina to learn more about the Mission’s activities implemented within the EU-financed War Crimes Trial Monitoring and Transitional Justice support.

The study visit also enabled the participants to enhance their knowledge about the results, achievements, challenges and experience of their counterparts in the institutions engaged in fighting impunity for crimes committed during ‘90s on the territory of the former Yugoslavia.