BiH Chief Prosecutor: Regional cooperation poor, 50 war crimes suspects on run

Speaking at a press conference in Sarajevo, he presented the annual report on the work of the state prosecutor's office for 2025, recalling that since the establishment of the state court and prosecutor's office for war crimes, 585 people have been convicted of war atrocities.

At the state-level Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, proceedings are currently under way in 51 cases against 234 people accused of war crimes.

At the same time, second-instance proceedings are ongoing before the Appeals Division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina against 11 defendants.

However, as many as 50 people accused of war crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina are unavailable to the country's judicial authorities and are hiding in neighbouring states, using dual citizenship to shield themselves from extradition, Kajganic said.

He added that the issue is being addressed through communication with countries in the region and with the support of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), the successor to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), but without significant results so far.

"We are trying to improve that cooperation, but it is not progressing as it should," Kajganic said.

According to him, 245 people indicted for war crimes are currently awaiting trial before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A key problem, he said, is that most of the defendants and witnesses are elderly, which affects the pace of the proceedings, while more than 30 years after the crimes were committed it is difficult to gather all the necessary evidence.

Kajganic said that the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina is taking additional measures to prevent information leaks related to investigations, which have enabled some suspects to flee the country before arrest or indictment.

As an example he cited the escape of the former deputy director of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), Zoran Galic. Shortly before he was due to be arrested on suspicion of corruption, he fled Bosnia and Herzegovina for Croatia in July 2024, where he remains in hiding.

The chief prosecutor also said that in organised crime cases linked to the encrypted Sky ECC and ANOM applications -- which were deciphered thanks to international police cooperation -- 20 indictments have been filed against 105 people, including members of various police agencies, along with proposals to confiscate illegally obtained assets worth nearly €15 million.

He added that 34 people have been charged with money laundering in line with the recommendations of Moneyval (Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism), a permanent Council of Europe body that monitors compliance with international standards against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Kajganic also recalled that 15 indictments had been filed against 24 people on corruption charges.

The most significant are those against the former president of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ranko Debevec, the former head of the Intelligence-Security Agency (OSA), Osman Mehmedagic, and Jelena Majstorovic, head of the investigations department at the Indirect Taxation Authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNO).

Kajganic confirmed that the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina is investigating all suspicions regarding the involvement of the country's citizens in armed conflicts abroad.

He also confirmed that 30 arrest warrants are currently in force for people from Bosnia and Herzegovina who fought in Syria, and that 15 cases have been opened against those who fought in Ukraine siding with Russian paramilitaries.

"All these individuals are of security interest to us, and as soon as they become available we will take the measures provided for by law," Kajganic said.