That Someone Guilty Be Punished - International Center for ...

Bosnia represents an advance that may be worth considering in other contexts. As a hybrid
court organized under domestic law, the chamber was thoughtfully designed to enhance local
capacity in ways that would endure after international participants were phased out. In particular,
the BWCC is the first hybrid court that was designed from the outset to become a
fully national court after a period of progressively diminishing international participation. 921
As noted earlier, the participation of international actors, particularly those with previous
experience at the ICTY, is widely thought to have helped prepare their domestic counterparts
to apply international humanitarian law as well as international standards of fair
process. But in a country still deeply riven along ethnic lines and whose judiciary has long
been subject to political pressures, international judges, prosecutors, and other staff have
served another role that is equally important: They have helped assure that the BWCC is
impartial and insulated from political pressures. Although journalist Nidžara Ahmetašević
doubts whether international judges in the Court of BiH are overall more competent than the
Bosnian judges, she believes that their presence is crucial in preventing political interference
and assuring impartiality. 922 And as Chief Prosecutor of BiH Milorad Barašin observed: “It’s
extremely important to have international judges for perceptions of neutrality [on the part of]
common people.” 923
There is another dimension, Barašin added. Describing the dynamic within the SDWC,
Barašin—who is ethnically Serb—told us that a Bosniak colleague “would prefer to say everything
he knows to an international colleague than to me.” 924 Thus in societies emerging from
ethnic violence, international staff may inject a crucial dynamic not only in the public eye but
also within judicial institutions.
At a time when it had been envisaged that Bosnia’s war crimes institutions could operate
without international judges and staff, the need for their participation remained strong in
light of myriad factors, including what one study termed “the current political climate in the
country.” 925 Thus, on Dec. 14, 2009, the High Representative for BiH extended the mandate of
international judges and prosecutors working on war crimes cases for a further three years. 926
The decision followed the failure of the Bosnian Parliament to amend the relevant legislation
in a way that would allow for continued participation of internationals in the work of the
SDWC and in the BWCC. Bosnian Serb members of the Bosnian Parliamentary Assembly
opposed unanimously their continued presence and blocked adoption of the law. 927 Indeed,
RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik has repeatedly claimed that the ongoing involvement of
international judges and prosecutors threatens the legitimacy of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a
sovereign state, while his opponents dismiss the rhetoric as an attempt to head off corruption
allegations that have been leveled against him. 928
Although the BWCC has faced and continues to confront a raft of difficult challenges,
it has emerged as a model for transitional justice efforts elsewhere. 929 Within Bosnia, the
chamber is one of “the strongest state institution[s] we have,” in the view of journalist Nidžara
Ahmetašević—and one that is playing an important role in Bosnians’ ongoing process of reck-
132 IMPACT ON DOMESTIC WAR CRIMES PROSECUTIONS