Chief Prosecutors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and Serbia and the Chief Prosecutor of International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals meet in Sarajevo to discuss regional cooperation in fight against war crimes

Analysis of the cooperation to date with an overview of the key challenges and problems identified in practice, as well as examples of successful cooperation are main topics of the meeting.

Chief prosecutors and their teams are also discussing the experience to date related to the transfer of cases with confirmed indictments, and all the necessary activities and preconditions that must be fulfilled to ensure the transfer of cases, with particular emphasis on ensuring the necessary protection and cooperation of witnesses, as well as cooperation between Prosecutor Offices during the trial.

One of the topics of the meeting is related to cooperation in investigations and joint investigation teams, as one of the important elements needed for a more effective cooperation and resolution of problems.

Also, the participants are discussing future steps with regard to improving the transfer of procedures and cooperation in investigations.

The meeting was attended by Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz of International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, whose cooperation and support is extremely important for the development of regional cooperation, and delegations of prosecutors from the countries of the region headed by Gordana Tadić, Bosnia and Herzegovina Chief Prosecutor, Drazen Jelinić, Attorney General of the Republic of Croatia. Veselin Vučković, Prosecutor of the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office of Montenegro, Snežana Stanojković, Prosecutor for War Crimes of the Republic of Serbia, as well as representatives of international organizations involved in monitoring the processing of war crimes cases.

The regional meeting is being held in Sarajevo as part of a Regional War Crimes (RWC) Project implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and Serbia, with the support of the Government of the United Kingdom and Government of Italy.

This meeting one of RWC Project's activities, which include, inter alia, support for the protection of victims and witnesses, digitization and improvement of communication and reporting on war crimes cases.