Brammertz displeased with work of Bosnia prosecutors' office

SARAJEVO - The chief prosecutor of the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Serge Brammertz has said that, following a recent visit to Sarajevo, he is disappointed with the progress in war crimes investigations transferred several years ago by the ICTY Prosecutor's Office to Bosnia.

“Originally we transferred cases against 44 individuals, and for a number of them proceedings have been engaged, and for a number there has not been a lot of progress, and in a few really important cases there has been little progress,” Brammertz said.

“I have over the last few years looked at these cases and showed a lot of understanding for the difficulty of the situation. But my level of understanding is shrinking, as I found it very unfortunate that so little progress has been made,” he said.

Speaking to the Balkan Investigative and Reporting Network, Brammertz said that he told the Bosnian prosecution that he understands the problem of limited resources in a charged political situation, but that it was finally time to speed up work on these cases.
"I am hoping my criticism will be taken in constructive manner, because it is not only an issue of resources and equipment, it is also an issue about willingness and work," said Brammertz.

Brammertz believes that the establishment of a new tribunal to deal with crimes committed by the self-styled Kosovo Liberation Army would not be a criticism of the ICTY prosecution’s work in Kosovo-related cases.
“Prior to the adoption of the completion strategy of this court, there was limited evidence available about these crimes, so indictments could not be raised, and later, once the closing strategy was adopted, it was impossible to start new...