Regional conference of prosecutors on cooperation in the prosecution of war crimes
The Regional Conference of Prosecutors on Cooperation in Prosecuting War Crimes was held from 10-11 October 2022 in Belgrade in the organization of the OWCP.
The OWCP initiated the holding of this conference in order to strengthen regional cooperation and as a continuation of the Palić Process, which is recognized by international institutions as a mechanism for strengthening the cooperation of states in the region in the prosecution of war crimes.
The Conference was organized with the great support of the OSCE Mission in Serbia and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Republic of Serbia.
The conference was attended by the Chief Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as of the Federation of B-H, the Republika Srpska and the Brčko District, and the Special State Prosecutor's Office of Montenegro and the Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the Republic of Serbia, with the participation of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Serbia, the representative of the Supreme Court of Cassation of the Republic of Serbia, the deputy of the Public Prosecutor of the Republic, the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Republic of Serbia, the head of the OSCE Mission in the Republic of Serbia, the representative of the EU Delegation in the Republic of Serbia, the president of the Court of Appeal in Belgrade, and the president of the High Court in Belgrade.
The cooperation between the regional prosecutor's offices so far was discussed at the conference. The discussion related to an exchange of experiences, other work problems, as well as the main steps and directions of cooperation in future work.
More specific topics of discussion related to the improvement of protection and support for victims and witnesses and cooperation between services that deal with providing assistance, mutual legal assistance in war crimes cases, handing over and taking over criminal prosecution, as well as cooperation in discovering the fate of missing persons.
There was an agreement to continue this cooperation, either through the holding of such regional conferences or through bilateral direct contacts of the regional prosecutor's offices.
Regret was expressed that the representatives of the State Attorney's Office of the Republic of Croatia, as well as the County State Attorney's Offices, had failed to attend the conference due to their busy schedules.
