PROTECTED WITNESSES IN THE CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Keywords:
Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the European Court of Human Rights, protected witnessAbstract
The document presents the position of protected witnesses in the criminal procedural law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The harmonization of solutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the international human rights legislation and the application of the institute of protected witness in the case-law of the courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina and especially of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is analyzed. Although the State’s strategy for work on the war crime cases, which has been adopted by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 2008, recognizes a number of obstacles in the system for the protection and support of witnesses in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it has not been done a lot to improve the position of witnesses, including the especially sensitive category of victim-witnesses. Even in the case in which a court decides that a witness should be protected, the protection measures have not often been applied in the manner that enables its efficiency.
It is especially pointed out to two tendencies which entail some new problems – on one hand, the improvement of the position of suspect or accused, and, on the other hand, the protection of witness. In this context, the European Court of Human Rights stressed that the use of anonymous witnesses during trials might also raise the issue of the respect of rights safeguarded by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and that the measures must exist by which the balance shall be established, meaning to secure the defense’s rights. Regarding the aforementioned case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina also holds that the use of statements given by the anonymous witnesses in the determination whether the criminal charges are well-founded might lead to the violation of the right to a fair trial under Article 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. It could occur in two cases: a) when the judgement is based solely on the statement of an anonymous witness and b) when the possibility to challenge the statement of the anonymous witness or to reply to it has not been given to the accused or his defense council in the course of trial.
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