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

729. International Crisis Group, War Criminals in Bosnia’s Republika Srpska: Who Are the People
in Your Neighborhood?, p. iii (Nov. 2, 2000), at http://www.crisisgroup.org/library/documents/
report_archive/A400001_02112000.pdf.
730. In a 2008 report, Human Rights Watch reported: “ To date, in Republika Srpska, prosecutors
have brought a total of 18 indictments for crimes committed during the war, and district
courts have rendered 7 verdicts, with 3 cases still currently underway. In the Federation, cantonal
courts have decided a total of 144 verdicts, with 25 cases still in process.” Human Rights Watch,
Still Waiting: Bringing Justice for War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and Genocide in Bosnia and
Herzegovina’s Cantonal and District Courts (July 2008) (citations omitted) at http://www.hrw.org/en/
node/62137/section/2.
731. See Jelena Mrkić Bjelović, “Banja Luka: Legacy of the Past,” BIRN Justice Report, Dec. 27,
2007, at http://www.bim.ba/en/95/10/7151.
732. Interview with Damir Arnault, advisor for legal and constitutional affairs, Cabinet of Dr.
Haris Silajdžić, Sarajevo, July 16, 2009. Tarik Jusić, executive director of Mediacentar Sarajevo, had
a similar reaction to the claim that the ICTY had inadvertently undermined national courts, noting
that they were “inefficient, corrupt and they submitted to political pressure.” Interview with Tarik
Jusić, Sarajevo, Dec. 6, 2006.
733. Interview with Jovan Spaić, then director of the Republika Srpska Center for War Crimes
Investigations, Banja Luka, July 15, 2009. In addition, Spaić noted that the courts in Republika
Sprska, like those elsewhere in Bosnia, had not yet undergone the comprehensive judicial reform
process that started much later. Id.
734. Human Rights Center, International Human Rights Clinic, University of California, Berkeley,
and Centre for Human Rights, University of Sarajevo, Justice, Accountability and Social Reconstruction:
An Interview Study of Bosnian Judges and Prosecutors, p. 39 (May 2000), at http://www.law.
berkeley.edu/files/IHRLC/Justice_Accountability_and_Social_Reconstruction.pdf.
735. Interview with Vehid Šehić, president, Citizens Forum of Tuzla, Tuzla, July 15, 2009.
736. A raft of international organizations has been deeply involved in various aspects of governance
in Bosnia, including judicial reform. These have included, in addition to the Office of the
High Representative, the Judicial System Assessment Program of the UN Mission in Bosnia and
Herzegovina; the UN Development Programme; the International Judicial Commission and the
OSCE. Many non-governmental organizations have also played substantial roles in these processes.
737. The term “Bosnian War Crimes Chamber” is a common phrase used to refer to Section 1 of
the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) that handles war crimes exclusively. The Prosecutor’s
Office and the Court are separate organs of the state of BiH—they are not part of a single chamber.
The prosecutor operates in the judicial system as a participant in trials, but is not actually part of
the judiciary.
738. The vetting process is described in Caspar Fithen, The Legacy of Four Vetting Programs: An
Empirical Review, pp. 5–10 (International Center for Transitional Justice, 2009).
739. The ICTY’s prosecution office played an important role in this vetting process. See Tolbert
and Kontic, “The ICTY and the Transfer of Cases,” pp. 3–4. Although the UN Mission in Bosnia
carried out the vetting procedure in-country, the majority of documents relevant to the vetting
process were housed or archived at the ICTY in the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP). Many of these
documents were not otherwise available and without access to them, the vetting procedure would
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