Adopted Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina



House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina has adopted today the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina. With the entry into force of the adopted amendments, the issue of allocation of war crimes cases among the courts in BiH will be regulated and it will enable more effective implementation of the National War Crime Strategy.   

Namely, the National War Crime Strategy, which was adopted last year by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, foresees the need for establishing functional mechanism of war crimes cases management, i.e. their allocation between the state judiciary and judiciary of Entities and Brcko District. Central register of all war crimes cases in BiH will be established at the level of the Court and Prosecutor's Office of BiH. The most responsible perpetrators of war crimes are priority, and they will be prosecuted before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in accordance with the agreed case selection criteria. Thus are created conditions for more efficient prosecution of war crimes cases within the determined time period.

Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code also provide for, inter alia, keeping persons sentenced to five year's imprisonment or more in mandatory detention. It is about reincorporating into the law previously prescribed solution, which is intended to enable a more efficient court procedure and prevent persons convicted of serious crimes to commit new crimes or leave BiH during the period of waiting to serve their sentence.