Dr. Lagumdžija - Prosecutor Jallow: Bosnia and Herzegovina strongly supports the work of the United Nations Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals



On 9 September 2014, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dr. Zlatko Lagumdžija met in Sarajevo with Prosecutor of the United Nations Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) Hassan Yallow who pays the first official visit to B&H in the framework of his visit to the region.

Dr. Lagumdžija welcomed the Prosecutor's visit and emphasized that MICT is not only the crucial step in implementation of a strategy for closing the Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, but also the body that will function as the successor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia and that is why B&H strongly supports the work of this body.

He particularly stressed that MICT will work on the transfer of war crimes cases to local jurisdictions and MICT will also, on the basis of its previous experience and through the education of investigators and prosecutors working on war crimes cases, provide technical support and assistance.

Dr. Lagumdžija believes that cooperation between the UN Mechanism and B&H's courts will provide efficient prosecution of war crimes and contribute to the completion of prosecutions and punishment of those persons found to be initiators and executors of war crimes.

It was highlighted that experience of Bosnia and Herzegovina and terrible war crimes happened in our country during 1990s must be an example for all of us to make additional efforts in order to ensure that new crimes don’t happen again anywhere in the world. It is of great importance to have not just institutions working on the prevention but also individuals and the entire society.

In addition to the prosecution and punishment of war crimes, the prevention of new war crimes is a core interest.

In that context, they specifically emphasized activities in support to the initiative of preventing sexual violence in conflict and, besides prosecutions and punishment of perpetrators of these severe war crimes, Dr. Lagumdzija particularly underlined that it is very important to create conditions for providing support to victims of sexual violence in conflict and to prevent it from happening again.

During the meeting, the interlocutors welcomed today’s signing of Memorandum of Understanding between the MICT’s Prosecutor and Prosecutors of Bosnia and Herzegovina on cooperation between MICT and the Prosecutor’s Office of B&H.