09 Oct 14
The latest EU progress report said that Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia are still making unacceptably slow progress in prosecuting war crimes.

Marija Ristic
BIRN
Belgrade

The report published by the European Commission on Wednesday, examining the progress made by the western Balkan states towards the EU, said that the rule of law remains the most problematic issue in all four countries, while not enough is being done to prosecute perpetrators of crimes from the 1990s conflicts.

A lack of political will to prosecute high-level officials was also named as a serious problem in most of the countries.

The report said that Bosnia and Herzegovina had continued to tackle its huge backlog of domestic war crimes cases and implement its national war crimes strategy, but the pace was still too slow.

Prosecutors’ offices have recruited more staff but “appropriate financing of adequate staffing levels in prosecutors’ offices and courts remains an issue to be addressed urgently to ensure timely and effective processing of the backlog”, it said.

The report said that the EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, must continue to investigate and prosecute war crimes in Kosovo because local judges were not able to do so.

“The local judiciary is still unable to fully pursue cases of this kind,” it said.

It also expressed concerns about threats and intimidation in Kosovo.

“Harassment of judges and prosecutors in the media and the absence of an effective response from the relevant institutions continue to be a serious concern,” it said.

As well as “insufficient political support” for war crimes and missing persons investigations, the report said that witnesses still faced threats intended to deter them from testifying.

“Witness intimidation continues to be a concern, although the police have made good progress establishing a witness protection directorate,” it said.

The report also raised series concerns about Montenegro’s efforts to tackle war crimes, saying that “no serious efforts to tackle impunity have been demonstrated”.

After recent acquittals and light sentences handed down by Montenegrin courts, the report noted that the country has yet to lay charges for command responsibility over war crimes.

“Montenegro needs to step up its efforts to fight impunity for war crimes, and effectively investigate, prosecute, try and punish war crimes in line with international standards. All outstanding allegations of war crimes need to be duly followed up. Montenegro needs to ensure that victims of war crimes have access to justice and reparations,” it said.

Meanwhile the report said that although Serbia had opened four new investigations, brought charges against ten people and convicted 13 others, senior commanders were still evading prosecution.

“Despite consistent efforts by the war crimes jurisdictions, the number of investigations against high-level officers still remains low, and courts continued to pass lenient sentences in such cases. Only a few victims of war crime have access to effective compensation under the current legal framework,” it said.

It also criticised Serbia for not doing enough to ensure witnesses’ security and help victims.

“Serious weaknesses in the witness protection system have not been addressed and assistance to victims has not improved,” it said.

The report also called on all four Balkan states to do more to resolve the fate of over 11,000 people still missing from the 1990s wars, urging “greater political commitment and renewed efforts” to tackle the problem.

“The lack of information on new sites and difficulties in identification of exhumed human remains continue to be key obstacles. A lack of political support seems to underlie the fact; no new information on the fate and whereabouts of missing persons was provided,” it said.