OHR/EUSR

HR/EUSR to address Parliament on Wednesday

The High Representative and EU Special Representative, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, will speak before the BiH Parliament tomorrow at 10:00 am. We understand that the event will be carried live on BHT1.

The speech will be his last address to Parliament before the end of this mandate on 30 June. It will be an opportunity to address the slowdown of reforms and the ensuing political crisis in which Bosnia and Herzegovina has found itself.

In particular, the High Representative and EU Special Representative will cast a critical eye at the work of Parliament since his last address to that body in May 2006, and express his concern over the inflammatory political rhetoric of the last few months.

Christian Schwarz-Schilling will also highlight some of the major successes and failures during the past 15 months, before outlining a way out of the current political stagnation, which – as you all know – includes quick progress on police restructuring and resuming the process of constitutional reform.

BiH Parliament Can Advance Education Tomorrow

The BiH House of Representatives at their session tomorrow is due to discuss the BiH Higher Education Law and Laws on Agency for Pre-Primary and Secondary Education

Adopting these laws will give BiH the legislative framework to conduct education reform. They set standards aimed at lifting the quality of education that school children and students receive in BiH.

The legislation draws on best European practice, meets the Bologna Process requirements while recognising the realities of BiH.

These laws will enable mobility of students and professors, and recognition of higher education diplomas and degrees within the European Higher Education Area, and increase chances for employment of BiH graduates in EU.

The EU has determined that improving it’s education systems is one reform which will help make the continent the most dynamic and competitive knowledge based economy in the world. The EU has therefore agreed with the BiH authorities that reforming Higher Education in BiH is an obligation within BiH’s European Partnership commitments.

EUFOR

No statement

ICTY

Good morning from the ICTY.

Tribunal judges this morning sentenced Milan Martić, a former political leader of Croatian Serbs, to 35 years’ imprisonment for crimes committed against Croats and other non-Serbs in Croatia.

Martić was convicted on 16 counts of the indictment including persecutions, murder, torture, deportation, attacks on civilians, wanton destruction of civilian areas and other crimes against humanity and violations of laws and customs of war. He was acquitted on one count of the indictment charging him with extermination.  

We distributed a press release concerning the judgement half an hour ago, as well as the summary of the judgement. We are of course available if you need further information.

RTQ

FENA, Lejla Alibegović:

During the last few days the High Representative has held individual talks on reform processes with representatives of the major political parties. Can you tell us the results of the talks that have been held so far and how certain is it that a joint meeting will be held in Sarajevo on Friday?   

OHR/EUSR:

It is possible. At this moment we have no information nor has such a meeting been scheduled yet. As you said, at the moment the High Representative is holding consultations with the political party leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These talks are in progress and will continue over the next few days. After the conclusion of these meetings it will be decided what shall be done next. Hence, the purpose of these meetings is to find a way to restart theconstitutional reform process. The meetings are closed to the public and we are therefore unable to further comment on their content.

Are there any other questions?

Dnevni List, Rešad Dautefendić:

A question for Mr. Hellman concerning the referral of, what is his name…Tolimir, to the State Court. Do you have any comment on this?   

ICTY, Matias Hellman:

Do you mean Milorad Trbić?

Dnevni List, Rešad Dautefendić:

Yes.

ICTY, Matias Hellman:

We issued a press release on that subject yesterday. Do you have it? Do you need a further explanation or…?

Dnevni List, Rešad Dautefendić:

I would like to hear about it here, so that we do not only communicate by press releases.

ICTY, Matias Hellman:

Yes, however I need a specific question. His is now the tenth case to be referred from The Hague to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The appeal on the Decision of Referral of the case of Milan and Sredoje Lukić is still underway in The Hague. Apart from those cases, at least at the moment, no other requests for referral under Rule 11 bis have been filed by the ICTY Office of the Prosecutor. Rule 11 bis is a rule that enables thereferral of cases where an indictment has been confirmed by the Tribunal and the transfer of indictees that are already in the custody of the Tribunal.

In other words, we are near the end of the process of referring cases under that Rule. What I often emphasize is that apart from that the ICTY Office of the Prosecutor refers case files and evidence against certain persons to prosecutor’s offices in the region. Such files may be either almost complete or possibly partially conducted, that is incomplete investigations. In the case of such investigations the local prosecutor’s offices continue those investigations, complete them and, if necessary and appropriate, issue indictments.

Regarding the referral of the case of Milorad Trbić and the cases of indictees that have already been referred to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, well that is all part of the strategy to bring themandate of the Tribunal to an end, and for us cooperation with the domestic judiciary is of extreme importance in order to make the most of and fully utilize all of the processes started at the Hague and all the effort that has been put into the investigations in the Tribunal.