Freed War Crimes Convicts Become Public Servants in Bosnia

Researcher Hikmet Karcic cites the Simic case in his report entitled 'Obeying Unlawful Orders: Continuity of Personnel Involved in Human Rights Violations and its Impact on Reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina'.

Karcic notes in the report that several convicted war criminals who have served their sentences have since returned to public office in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"The impunity of these civil servants - the ordinary bureaucrats in municipalities and police stations - has a detrimental effect on the rule of law in local communities," he argues.

The District Court in Doboj annulled Simic's appointment twice because evidence was not provided to prove that he had no previous convictions.

Of all the defendants convicted by the Hague Tribunal of crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, at least 41 have already come out of prison. Another 68 people who were sentenced for war crimes by the Bosnian state court have served their sentences already.

Another of the Hague defendants who has been freed is Simo Zaric, who was tried alongside Blagoje Simic. After his release, Zaric was elected deputy mayor of Bosanski Samac in 2008.

The Hague Tribunal sentenced Zaric to six years in prison for crimes against humanity in Bosanski Samac, including the inhumane treatment, torture and beating of non-Serb civilian prisoners.

"While he did not personally beat the prisoners, as a person highly engaged and respected in the social and cultural life in Bosanski Samac, he gave encouragement and moral support to those who did," the verdict said.

The number of non-Serbs living in the Bosanski Samac municipality fell dramatically because of the war, and Serbs now form the ethnic majority there.

After being elected as deputy mayor, Zaric...