OSCE/ODIHR trains legal professionals from Bosnia and Herzegovina on advocacy in war crimes trials

Thirty judges, prosecutors and defence counsel from across Bosnia and Herzegovina attended advance trial advocacy training from 29 to 31 May 2013 in Sarajevo organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and its partners.

Judge Frederik Harhoff from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Edina Rešidović, an ICTY defence counsel, and Andrew Dunne and John Vaudreuil, two prosecutors from the United States, delivered training on effective advocacy when preparing and conducting opening statements, direct and cross-examinations, and closing arguments. Participants also learned how to work with witnesses in war crimes cases and practiced their skills in a mock war crimes trial.

The training seminar was conducted as part of the War Crimes Justice Project – Phase II, which was launched last year to build on the achievements of the first phase of the project, which concluded in October 2011.

“With the main responsibility of prosecuting war crimes now shifting from the state level to local jurisdictions, it is essential to continue to build the capacities of legal practitioners,” said Nathalie Tran, a Rule of Law Officer at ODIHR.

Džemila Begović, Prosecutor at the War Crimes Department of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said: “The training was an opportunity for us to further learn how to handle war crimes trials in an effective and fair manner that is consistent with the highest international standards of due process.”

The event was organized in co-operation with the ICTY, the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United States Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training, and with judicial, prosecutorial and defence training institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.