Ten people accused of genocide and war crimes in and around Bosnia's eastern town of Srebrenica, including several former high-ranking Bosnian Serb military and police officials, are still unavailable to the Bosnian judiciary.

According to the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the indictments have been confirmed against Tomislav Kovac, Milomir Savcic, Milenko Zivanovic, Svetozar Kosoric, Radoslav Jankovic, Milisav Gavric, Zoran Malinic, Miomir Jasikovac, Borislav Stojisic and Rajko Drakulic.

“Currently, the Special Department for War Crimes has ten indictments confirmed, in which the defendants are located mainly on the territory of Serbia, and this poses a big problem in the fight against impunity for crimes, because some of these defendants held important positions in 1995, so the BiH Prosecutor's Office is trying to find a modality for their prosecution and punishment with the help of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT),” said the Prosecutor's Office.

It also reminded that the Special Department for War Crimes has so far issued indictments against some 50 persons for genocide and war crimes in and around Srebrenica.

Based on the indictments of the BiH Prosecutor's Office courts proclaimed final prison sentences of several hundred years with some of the longest prison sentences of more than 30 years of imprisonment per person were pronounced against members of the Bosnian Serb army's 10th sabotage squad in the case Franc Kos et al.

The Special Department for War Crimes handles cases against a large number of reported and suspected persons who are unavailable to the Bosnian judiciary (in 123 cases, 361 persons are unavailable), including persons reported and suspected of crimes in and around Srebrenica.

“The biggest problem is that most of these people are in the countries of the region and most of them have dual citizenships, so it is impossible to expect their extradition. For this reason, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH is trying to find a modality for the fight against impunity and the prosecution of persons in the region within the framework of regional cooperation,” the Prosecutor's Office said.

Due to the unavailability of the indicted persons, the cases against a certain smaller number of defendants were handed over to the Serbian judiciary for processing, such as the case related to the Kravica Agricultural Cooperative, where, according to the facts established by the court, mass murders were committed in July 1995.

The Prosecutor's Office said that there is a certain number of Srebrenica-related cases that are still in the investigation phase.