Amendments to the Laws on the Court and Prosecutor's Office of BiH in the Process of Adjustment



02.09.2009. - Principles of the Proposal of the Law on Amendments to the Law on the Court of BiH and Proposal of the Law on Amendments to the Law on the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, which define the mandate of the international judges and prosecutors, did not gain the necessary support of the members in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of BiH, and therefore they will be referred to the Collegium of House of Representatives for the adjustment. Proposed amendments to the laws extend the mandate of the international judges and prosecutors in the second-instance court panel of the Section for War Crimes in the transitional period by 31 December 2012, with the provision that only one international judge can participate in the Appellate Panel.  

International judge can continue to work on a case in the Section I of the Criminal Division, only if the work on that case began before this Law entered into force. There are five of such cases in which the foreign judges are included. 

Proposal of the Law on Amendments to the Law on the Prosecutor's Office of BiH will provide, inter alia, the extension of mandate of international prosecutors in the Special Department for War Crimes after 31 December 2009. The transitional period may last no longer than 31 December 2012.  

Minister of Justice, Mr. Barisa Colak addressed the MPs before discussion on the proposed amendments. He explained the proposed legal solutions, emphasizing that the opinions in the country regarding the extension of mandate of the international judges and prosecutors are divided, namely there is an opinion that their mandate should not be changed as well as the opinion that there is absolutely no need for their stay.

This was confirmed in the discussion of MPs, who presented different opinions regarding this issue. MPs from Republika Srpska presented the opinion that international judges and prosecutors should not stay in BiH judicial bodies. On the other side, representatives of the political parties from the Federation of BiH think that engagement of foreign judges should be extended, given that the opinions are divided between the need of their engagement in the full capacity, i.e. only in certain Sections of the Court of BiH and Prosecutor's Office of BiH.