Bakira Hasecic

The appointment last month of Drasko Milinovic to head the Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina has sparked criticism because of his controversial record in charge of RTRS, the public broadcaster in Bosnia's Serb-dominated Republika Srpska entity.

"There are still many mass crimes, particularly in the eastern Bosnia area, whose perpetrators have not been charged as yet, although solid documentation about these crimes exists," said Vidovic.

She said that the state prosecution should focus its resources on these more serious cases rather than on "less extensive crimes and less significant cases in terms of perpetrators' rank".

A lawyer representing a Bosnian rape victim told BIRN that the convicted defendants have voluntarily paid 30,000 Bosnian marks (about 15,400 euros) in compensation - the first time that perpetrators ordered to pay damages to victims of wartime sexual assault have actually done so.