Serge Brammertz, Chief Prosecutor of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, met in Banja Luka on Wednesday with organizations representing Serb victims of war crimes. In response to questions from the organizations about bias against Serbs within the BiH justice system, Mr. Brammertz said that BiH prosecutors had a responsibility to demonstrate fairness and independence in all cases.
Asked whether reconciliation among peoples in BiH could be possible in the situation when nobody had been punished yet for the crimes committed against the Serbs in Kravica, Brammertz said he was aware that there was dissatisfaction among associations of victims of war in Republika Srpska due to the lack of investigations in Sarajevo, and the lack of progress and prosecution of war crimes committed against the Serbs.
“I encourage associations of victims of war from Republika Srpska to speak about this with prosecutors in Sarajevo,” Brammertz said following a meeting with representatives of associations of Serb victims of war.
Following the meetings, one of the organizations represented, the Association of Women Victims of War, announced that it would not meet with Mr. Brammertz again until he satisfied their request of providing information on the Court’s handling of crimes against women.
Following a meeting with Brammertz in Banjaluka on Wednesday, Ms Rajilic recalled that six months ago during their encounter in Sarajevo, she had given the prosecutor a list of 397 names of murdered Serb women from the areas of Sarajevo and Gorazde alone, which was forwarded to the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, but that there was still no reply regarding the matter.
“I asked Brammertz where the list was and he said he would reply by May, and I also asked why they had given up on arresting the perpetrators of crimes against women when we have hundreds of women that the Prosecutor’s Office had never taken any statements from,” Rajilic emphasised.
