Action for Human Rights (HRA) and TRIAL International Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) welcome the conclusion of the Agreement on Understanding and Cooperation in the Field of Support to Witnesses, Victims and Victims in Criminal Proceedings for War Crimes, which was signed by the Supreme State Prosecutor of Montenegro, Milorad Marković and Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milanko Kajganić, announced today from HRA.
On November 5, Marković and Kajganić signed the Agreement on Understanding and Cooperation in the Field of Supporting Witnesses, Victims and Victims in Criminal Proceedings for War Crimes in Sarajevo.
The HRA announcement adds that the agreement envisages faster and more efficient cooperation in war crimes cases, as well as the organization of testimony, participation and protection in proceedings for witnesses, victims and injured parties in war crimes cases processed in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina and in which witnesses participate and injured parties who live and stay in another country.
"It also regulates cooperation in collecting the necessary data for the realization of a property claim in criminal proceedings. In this sense, if an injured party from BiH submits a property claim in Montenegro, BiH will be obliged to inform him of all the evidence necessary for its realization and vice versa. Although we believe that providing this information would be more expedient even before the injured party makes a decision on filing a property claim, we hope that cooperation in this matter will bring Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina closer to Sweden, where property claims are awarded in 84% of criminal cases," the HRA press release points out.
The non-governmental organization (NGO) added that the advantage of adjudicating this request in criminal proceedings is significant for the injured parties, when the perpetrator is solvent, because it prevents retraumatization in the civil proceedings, as well as the disclosure of the victim's identity in the litigation (if they have the status of a protected witness in the crime ) which is especially important for victims of sexual violence.
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