The trial of Zoran and Radenko Ilic, accused of the persecution and illegal deprivation of liberty of 16 civilians of Bosniak nationality in the area of Rogatica, was not held on September 5th in the State Court because one of the members of the Council, Judge Dalida Burzic, was suspended on Friday by the decision of the First Instance Disciplinary Commission for Judges for a criminal investigation against her in connection with the case of the murder of Dzenan Memic. This suspension could further slow down the work on the criminal cases in which Burzic is the Judge.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) confirmed that the case for crimes committed in the area of Rogatica was postponed due to the absence of a member of the Council. Yesterday, the court postponed the trial of Ibrahim Puric, accused of crimes at Vitez, who is being tried by the council whose member is Dalida Burzic. It was confirmed that Judge Burzic is the presiding judge in four cases of war crimes and seven members of the Council.
Lawyer Miodrag Stojanovic, who represents before the Court of BiH in two war crimes cases in which Burzic is the chairman of the court council, believes that the suspension could further slow down the work on criminal cases. He explains that the situation is more difficult in the cases in which Burzic presides than in those in which she was a member of the panel.
”If she is a member of the council, then she can be replaced without the consent of the participants in the proceedings, but their statement is required. Therefore, it could slow down the work in the sense that a new member of the council will appear and in that direction ask for time to get involved in the case, which postpones the trial for some time,” says Stojanovic.
Tarik Cingic, the lawyer of Admir Rizvanovic, accused of war crimes committed in 1993 in the Brcko area in the case with four other persons, whose trial began in June 2020, and in which Judge Burzic is a member of the Council, states that the Court “will definitely find a solution.”
Murat Tahirovic, president of the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide, says that the processing of war crimes has certainly slowed down, “especially from the point of view of the work of the BiH Prosecutor’s Office.” Victims’ representatives, as well as international experts, warn that, due to the inefficiency of work on war crimes cases, all cases will not be completed by 2023, as was foreseen in the Revised Strategy for Work on War Crimes Cases. In the last two years, work on war crimes cases was further slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Court of BiH stated that they were informed of the decision of the Disciplinary Commission of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) of BiH.
”Keeping in mind that the said decision is not legally binding, the Court will definitely react in a timely manner in accordance with the legally binding decision of the HJPC of BiH, that is, the Disciplinary Commission,” said the Court.
The Disciplinary Commission of HJPC made a decision and temporarily removed Judge Burzic from performing her duties, following a request from the Office of the Disciplinary Counsel. This request was submitted by the Office after the HJPC reported on the organized crime investigation against Burzic, the former chief prosecutor of the Sarajevo Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office.
The State Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that the criminal investigation against Burzic is related to the case of the murder of Dzenan Memic, which was conducted by the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office in Sarajevo at the time when Burzic was the chief prosecutor, Detektor writes.
E.Dz.
