Bosnia & Herzegovina

What is it all about?

Our news in Bosnia and Herzegovina, clear and analytic

Significant progress has been made in the pursuit of justice for crimes committed during the Bosnian War and the Srebrenica genocide. Large-scale atrocities such as ethnic cleansing, concentration camps, systematic rapes, and massacres have been subject to investigations, shedding light on the trials of those responsible. Judicial proceedings related to international crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War began in 2005 under the supervision of the War Crimes Department of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Office of the Prosecutor. However, despite nearly three decades of national and international prosecutions, including before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), divergent narratives, denial of crimes, and varying degrees of support for war criminals persist in Bosnia and Herzegovina and neighboring Serbia. While news coverage on this judicial front may be scarce, Justice Info continues to provide 100% independent information supported by the analysis of our experts in international justice.

Stanisic and Simatovic trial - The 2 war criminals Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic at their appeal trial in The Hague (UN-IRMCT).

After 30 years, the UN court’s last verdict on former Yugoslavia

2 June 2023 by Molly Quell

It took a record 20 years for the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia – created in May 1993 and later replaced by “the Mechanism” – to complete the trial of two former Serbian spy masters. Arrested in 2003 [...]

War Crimes in Bosnia - A woman walks among the graves of the Potocari cemetery in Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Time is running out for war crimes prosecution in Bosnia

14 November 2022 by Massimo Moratti

“A race against time” is the title of a recent report by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) highlighting the delays in implementation of the country’s strategy for war crimes prosecution. The risk is to see the proce [...]

Bosnia genocide denial ban stirs tension

14 September 2021 by Julia Crawford

The outgoing UN High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s rare use of his executive powers to ban genocide denial is causing political waves, including threats of “dissolution” from the Serb leader of the joint presidency. [...]

Stanisic and Simatovic at the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague

Stanisic and Simatovic: slim convictions in longest running Yugoslav trial

1 July 2021 by Stephanie van den Berg

On June 30, a former head of Serbian state security and his subordinate were convicted for crimes in just one Bosnian town, and sentenced to 12 years in jail. But this retrial in the longest Yugoslav case before the UN court in Th [...]

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Ratco Mladic

8 June 2021 by Stephanie van den Berg

26 years after the Bosnia war, Mladic case ends Today Ratko Mladic, 78, will hear the final decision in the case against him. In 2017 the former head of the Bosnian Serb army was found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the UN International Criminal T [...]

Trial of Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic

19 April 2021 by Stephanie van den Berg

Last trial, last chance at the U.N. court for the former Yugoslavia The retrial of two former Serbian spy masters is the last trial that the U.N. court for the former Yugoslavia and its successor institution, the Residual Mechanism, will hold about the 1990s conflicts that ravaged the former Yugos [...]

Opinion

10 July 2020 by Hariz Halilovich

The Srebrenica genocide has changed me and my generation As the world commemorates the July 1995 genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnian-Australian scholar Hariz Halilovich reflects on how this defining event of the war in Bosnia has become a part of his personal and collective memory and ident [...]

Opinion

9 July 2020 by Srđan Šušnica

The legacy of Srebrenica and the bitter victories of genocide 25 years ago, about 8,000 men were murdered in and around the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. This was the largest massacre in post-WWII Europe. The U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ruled it was genocide. [...]

Podcast

7 July 2020 by Asymmetrical Haircuts

25 years after Srebrenica, assessing justice and genocide denial This July 11 marks a quarter century since the massacre of nearly 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the eve of the commemorations, our partners at Asymmetrical Haircuts are exposing the li [...]

20 March 2019 by AFP

Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic's sentence increased to life A maximum penalty sentence concludes one of the biggest, longest and most important cases of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Judges of the UN mechanism that deals with the ICTY remaining cases [...]

19 March 2019 by Stephanie van den Berg

Karadzic: last chapter of a mega trial at the Yugoslav tribunal On Wednesday, Bosnian Serb wartime political leader Radovan Karadzic, 73, will hear if his 40-year-jail term is confirmed, increased to a life sentence as prosecutors demand or if he gets the retrial his lawyers are seeking. This [...]

29 October 2018 by Stephanie van den Berg

Damaging power struggle engulfs the former ICTY Judges at the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (MICT), the successor institution of the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, have become embroiled in a very public power struggle which is already impact [...]

3 January 2018 by Pierre Hazan, JusticeInfo editorial advisor and professor at Neuchâtel University

As Yugoslav tribunal closes, a look back at its history In his last speech to the UN Security Council on December 6, 2017, ICTY President Carmel Agius expressed satisfaction that out of 161 persons indicted, all have been tried or have died, representing a 100% success rate, although t [...]

3 January 2018 by Pierre Hazan, JusticeInfo editorial advisor and professor at Neuchâtel University

How the ICTY has changed our world The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) closed its doors on December 31, 2017, after working for 24 years, issuing 161 indictments and nearly as many judgments, hearing 4,600 witnesses over 10,800 days [...]

21 December 2017 by Human Rights Watch

How the Yugoslav Tribunal Made History, according to HRW Bullet holes, bloodstains and brain matter marked the walls of an empty barn, a crime scene processed to document the worst crime in Europe since the Second World War: the deliberate killings of more than 7,000 men and boys from t [...]

11 December 2017 by Pierre Hazan, JusticeInfo editorial advisor and professor at Neuchâtel University

Was the destruction of Old Mostar Bridge a war crime? To what extent does the destruction of an architectural masterpiece constitute a war crime if that masterpiece is also used for military purposes? What, too, if the destruction of such a monument, like the Old Mostar Bridge, cause [...]

1 December 2017 by François Sergent, JusticeInfo

Week in Review: ICTY suicide and children’s war drawings question international justice Croat war criminal Slobodan Praljak’s suicide in court, just as he was being sentenced to 20 years in jail, puts a tragic final end to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). It is with those images, [...]

1 December 2017 by Pierre Hazan, JusticeInfo editorial advisor and professor at Neuchâtel University

Justice leaves a bitter taste in the Balkans This December 21, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will close its doors. Never have so many crimes provoked so much investigative work. Never has a war been so documented, examined and analysed [...]

29 November 2017 by AFP

Chaos at UN court as Bosnian Croat defendant 'takes poison' and dies The UN war crimes court for former Yugoslavia descended into chaos during it last judgement Wednesday when a defendant took poison to protest the upholding of his 20-year jail term. Bosnian Croat war criminal Slobodan Praljak died [...]