The Association of Witnesses and Victims of Genocide urged Bosnia’s Prosecutor’s Office to initiate an investigation and protect a witness whose name was revealed to the media in Bosnia’s Serb-majority Republika Srpska (RS) region following reports that witness told the court in 2017 that current RS Prime Minister, Radovan Viskovic, was involved in war crimes.
Bosnia's Prosecutor's Office told N1 on Friday that its War Crimes Chamber formed a case against the Prime Minister of Bosnia's Republika Srpska (RS) entity, Radovan Viskovic after the investigative web portal Istraga.ba published an article which includes an audio recording from 2017 containing the testimony of protected witness M-16 in the case of ‘Miodrag Josipovic et al.’.
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“Radovan Viskovic offered me money to relocate mass graves,” the witness allegedly told the Court. Istraga.ba also reported that the witness gave the exact same testimony in 2007.
The Public broadcaster of Bosnia’s semi-autonomous RS entity, as well as some other media, have meanwhile reported the name of the witness.
The Prosecutor's Office told N1 on Tuesday that it formed a case in regard to this as well and informed the competent institutions and services which provide witness protection and security about it.
Prosecutors also said they received a complaint against “certain employees of the Court and Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina” regarding the “disclosure of the identity of a protected witness and unauthorized transfer of documents.”
The Association of Witnesses and Victims of Genocide alleged that Viskovic was “a member of the main headquarters of the Army of Republika Srpska” and that he and the other 105 members “played a role in the genocide.”
“The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina must URGENTLY protect witnesses who testify before the Court. The way in which the director of the Centre for Research of War Crimes of Republika Srpska, Milorad Kojic, publicly announced that he would reveal the personal data of a protected witness represents the most brutal attack on witnesses who must be protected,” the association said.
It urged the Prosecutor’s Office to initiate an investigation and determine who is responsible for disclosing the name of a protected witness to the media.
“If those who disclose protected data are allowed to go unpunished this time as well, the consequences for future trials will be catastrophic,” the association stressed.
The EU Delegation, OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Bosnia’s High Representative, who oversees the civilian implementation of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, have previously urged prosecutors to initiate an investigation into the matter and protect the witness in question.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy to Bosnia also reacted.
“The disclosure of the identity or information that may lead to the disclosure of the identity of a protected witness jeopardizes the security of witnesses and adversely affects the willingness of witnesses to testify in criminal proceedings, especially in war crimes trials. Any kind of concrete inquiry about open issues and interpretation of BiH law should be addressed to the relevant BiH institutions,” the US Embassy's Public Relations Office told N1.
