Representatives of the justice sector and the international community have agreed that finalizing a comprehensive strategy for the justice sector and a state strategy for dealing with war crimes cases are short-term priorities.
This conclusion was reached at a meeting chaired by the High Representative and EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajčák in Sarajevo today.
Under the state strategy on processing war crimes, there would be a through review of all reported war crimes cases to determine the evidence available and the status of these cases, as well as allocate them to prosecutor’s offices in BiH. So far only cases transferred from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to domestic courts have been subject to such a review.
Participants also agreed that the financial framework for the state prison has to be finalised as soon as possible. The international community will assist in that project.
The establishment of four working groups was agreed at the meeting. They will be tasked with developing joint positions on regional satellite offices of the Court of BiH, the physical separation of the Court and the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, the issue of the Appellate Court and a consolidated budget for the judiciary.
The conclusions of the working groups will be delivered to the Ministry of Justice with the aim of unifying the work on the two strategies and the State Court project.