Gordana Bosiljcic                              Sarajevo, February 6th, 2016

Opinion No. 11

-        Answers to the questionnaire

  1. Does the prosecution service in your country work strategically with ensuring quality in the work of prosecutors? If yes, how is that done?

On July, 8th 2015 the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina has published a resolution with the title „Strategy of Bosnia and Herzegovina for prevention in the fight against terrorism“. On the base of that resolution the Council of Ministers has founded a body of experts ( task force) for supervision of the progress of realisation and putting its resolution into action. A similar resolution with regard to the fight against the organized crime does not exist so far.

  1. Which criteria are considered crucial in your country for securing the highest quality and efficiency of the work of prosecutors, their independence, impartiality, human and material resources, conditions of work etc. ? Please briefly describe.

The most crucial criteria in my opinion are the human and material ressources of the prosecutoral institutions and the independency of the prosecutors work of politics and the ongoing tendency of the media to involve the prosecutors in their critical reports or often sensational desription of the facts. Disclosing the identity of the prosecutors in the media is not rarely a burden for the responsable prosecutor. Another important criteria is the quality of the prosecutor's work depending on his professional experience and as well practiacal as procedural education.

  1. Are there any indicators, formal or informal, used in your country in order to assess the quality and efficiency of the work of the prosecutors, for example, the number of cases considered, the length of the consideration,, the complexity of cases considered etc. ? Please briefly describe.

Indeed the same indicators mentioned in the obove raised questions are used to assess the quality and

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efficiency of the prosecutors. The length of consideration on a case strongly depends on its political infliction,what seems to be tipical for smaller countries with close ties between the interest of business and politicians. The most complex cases are those which afford time gaining economical opinion of an expert witness or a long lasting international cooperation to collect all evidence against an organized criminal group and the individual part of blame of its members.Of course the assessment of the quality of prosecutor's work takes into account this complexity of cases.

  1. Is there a formal or informal procedure for evaluation of the work of prosecutors, how often it is evaluated, by whom, and with what concequences? Do the prosecutors have the right to raise formal or informal objections to the results of the evaluation and to its consequences?

Each prosecutor has to prepare a mothly report to the head of the prosecutorial office in question (not to forget that there exist three levels of prosecution in Bosnia and Herzegowina). The monthly reports are to be considered again in the end of the year when on the level of the Head of Office a final evaluation of prosecutor's work as a whole take place. The final annual assessement is sent to the High Judical and Prosecutoral Council which is the responsible body for any appeal or recomendation of a single prosecutor too.

  1. As regards the fight against organised crime and terrorism, are there any specific conditions, criteria, procedures or indicators created for prosecutors in your country in order to

– facilitate their work?

- evaluate their work?

The exclusive jurisdiction over cases of organized crime and terrorism is in the hand of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegowina and its Supreme Court which delegate it to their specified sections. To facilitate the work of the specified prosecutorial section it is assisted for example by tecnical specialist for the investigation. The evaluation of prosecutor's work in this section is the same as above

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mentioned for all prosecutors. In addition the body of

experts depending of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegowina has to evaluate the work on the field of terrorism annually and hand over the report to the responsable parlamentary committee.

  1. Are there in your country recent legislative reforms to fight more effectively against organized crime and terrorism and how are these reforms seen in relation to the quality and efficiency of the work of prosecutors? Please briefly describe.

The last fundamental reforms of the law on crime (criminal code of Bosnia and Herzegowina) passed the parliament in the year 2015. The new legislation contain in addition to sanctions against terrorism itself as well the abstract of record „fanancing of terroristic operations“ as „public standing up for terroristic actions“ and „recruitment for terroristic activities“ and in addition „training for terroristic activities“. The notification of these new abstract  records fill a loophole of law and therefore facilitate the prosecuting of terroristic cases.

  1. Do you consider that current international conventions, as well as international organisations, like EUROJUST, EUROPOL and INTERPOL, are sufficient to effectively fight against organised crime and terrorism?

Whereas the cooperation with INTERPOL seems to be sufficiently effective, unfortunately there is not at all any direct cooperation with EUROJUST and EUROPOL because  Bosnia and Herzegowina is not a memberstate of EU.

  1. What are the major challenges in your country as regards the quality and efficiency of the work of prosecutors and, in particular, their fight against organised crime and terrorism?

There are three major challenges with regard to the improvement of quality and efficiency of prosecutor's work:

-       the improvement of education as an ongoing process of specialisation of the matter,

-       the adaption of the legislation with special regard to the improvement of tecnical abilities of organized criminals as well as international operating terrorists,

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-       strong educational improvement and modernisation of

 „State Investigation and Protection Agency“ (SIPA) of Bosnia and Herzegowina as the main assisting body of the State's Prosecutors Office in all affairs concerning terrorism and organised crime.

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