Lawyers defending war crimes suspects before the State Court have not received any payment for their work for six months because the state budget has not been adopted. As a result, at least one case has requested that hearings be scheduled with as much gap as possible, and other lawyers have warned of significant delays in war crimes trials.
Initiatives to withdraw power of attorney in war crimes cases have already been sent to bar associations in both entities, confirmed lawyer Miodrag Stojanovic.
“The situation is becoming very serious, and these initiatives for withdrawing power of attorney are becoming more likely, as lawyers cannot work at their own expense before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) for six months. This could have unforeseeable consequences in war crimes cases,” he explains.
He adds that some lawyers have dedicated their entire professional engagement to the Court of BiH and live and work solely from the fees they haven’t received since December last year.
The State Court has, according to the President of the Republika Srpska (RS) Bar Association Dalibor Mrsa, sent a letter to the associations stating that they have tried to find a solution to this problem, but the obstacle is the ignorant attitude of politics.
“A number of lawyers no longer want to defend ex officio. We will decide at the level of both chambers what to do next because this situation leads nowhere. Here, politics has directly interfered with the aim of destabilizing the judicial system,” says Mrsa.
The Federation of BiH (FBiH) Bar Association believes that the best response to the ignorant policy would be for lawyers not to appear in court, but this is currently a last resort, as clients should not suffer because of these problems.
“We know that the Court of BiH has tried with all its might to solve this problem, asking both the Council of Ministers and other relevant bodies to solve this issue. The problem is that ex officio lawyers are not included in the interim budget that funds others in the judiciary. We are coordinating with colleagues from the RS, and I hope this problem will be overcome,” says Tanja Hadzagic, President of the FBiH Bar Association’s Board of Directors.
At one of the recent hearings before the BiH Court, lawyer Tatjana Savic requested that due to this problem, trials be scheduled no more frequently than once a month.
State Minister of Justice Davor Bunoza believes that the problem has long been alarming and needs to be resolved urgently. He says he has received letters from the BiH Court, Detektor writes.
E.Dz.
