Regional cooperation

One of the key factors of successful court proceedings against war crimes perpetrators is the establishment of legal framework for regional co-operation, given the fact that victims, witnesses, perpetrators and scenes of the crimes are situated in the territories of different states. Regional co-operation is a prerequisite for the ICTY's referral of the cases to national courts.

In May 2004, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the OSCE Mission in Serbia and Montenegro. Throughout 2003, the OSCE elaborated the Support Strategy for Judiciary and Police Capacity Building in the Republic of Serbia. The principal intention of this Strategy is to facilitate regional co-operation, so as to enable the prosecution of persons responsible for war crimes in accordance with interanationally recognized standards.

The co-operation would involve free exchange of evidentiary material and information related to investigations and operational planning, assistance in collecting evidence and examination of witnesses, transfers of cases to those states which have access to the crimes perpetrators, etc. This would finally result in harmonization of judicial practice in the area of war crimes trials.