S/WCI AMBASSADOR WILLIAMSON'S JULY 8-12 VISIT TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 SARAJEVO 001221

NOFORN
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR (DICARLO),EUR/SCE (HOH, FOOKS, STINCHCOMB),
S/WCI (WILLIAMSON, LAVINE, VIBUL),INR (MORIN),EUR/ACE
(DUNN, TEFT, KEATON),INL (KIMMEL),L/EUR (KJOHNSON),THE
HAGUE (SCHILDGE, MANNING); NSC FOR BRAUN; OSD FOR BEIN; DOJ
FOR OPDAT (ALEXANDRE)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/28/2008
TAGS: PGOV PREL KAWC KCRM KJUS BK
SUBJECT: S/WCI AMBASSADOR WILLIAMSON'S JULY 8-12 VISIT TO
BOSNIA

REF: SARAJEVO 1087 SARAJEVO 1090

Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Judith B. Cefkin for Reasons
1.4 (B) and (D)


1. SUMMARY: (C) During a July 8-12 visit to Bosnia,
Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, Clint Williamson,
met with key justice, political and international
representatives to discuss war crimes issues. Officials
working with the Bosnian State Court repeatedly expressed the
need to extend the mandate of the international secondees
working at the court; however, Bosnian government officials
noted that getting approval to extend the secondees would be
politically difficult, specifically in the organized crime
unit. High Representative Miroslav Lajcak said that war
crimes issues remain a key focus for OHR, but complained
about the international community's lack of attention to
Bosnia. Other international interlocutors noted the progress
being made in specific areas, but expressed concerns about
the increasingly hostile environment in which national judges
and prosecutors operate. Bosnian officials, including Prime
Minister Nikola Spiric and BiH Justice Minister Barisa Colak,
acknowledged the need to improve regional cooperation on war
crimes issues but had mixed views on the issue of extending
international secondees. Williamson tried to counter
concerns about extending secondees, noting that politicians
from all ethnic groups fear the extension of internationals
secondees, possibly out of concerns for their own
self-preservation. Throughout his meetings, Williamson
expressed strong USG support for the work of the State Court
and Prosecutor's Office, and the proposal to extend seconded
international judges and prosecutors. End Summary


Williamson Takes Stock of War Crimes Prosecution
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2. (C) During the course of a July 8-12 visit to Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues
Williamson met with key Bosnian judicial interlocutors to
reiterate USG support for war crimes prosecutions by the
State Prosecutor's Office. During a meeting with acting
Chief Prosecutor Milorad Barasin, Barasin emphasized the
importance of having international secondees remain in the
War Crimes Division and the Organized Crime Division of the
Bosnian State Court and the State Prosecutor's Office, noting
that both institutions have suffered from an avalanche of
negative media as the December 2009 deadline for the
departure of the internationals draws near. Barasin
dismissed threats to the court as "part of the job," he also
noted that he and his family, including his young son, had
received threats. Williamson underscored USG support for the
ongoing process of drafting a National War Crimes Strategy
and prosecutorial guidelines. Williamson said that a
successful closeout of the International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will depend in part on
Bosnia's ability to develop its war crimes prosecution
capabilities and efforts to improve regional cooperation. He
emphasized that extending international judges and
prosecutors in both the war crimes and organized crime
chambers beyond 2009 would contribute to this outcome.
Barasin briefed on plans to strengthen the court and
prosecutorial capabilities, noting that the court is
considering transferring the terrorism section to the
organized crime section. These plans also include developing
specialized expertise among the prosecutor corps, and to
complete an inventory of war crimes cases nation-wide.

War Crimes Department Head Says His Department Has Momentum
-------------- --------------


3. (C) The Head of the State Prosecutor's Office Special
Department for War Crimes, David Schwendiman, briefed
Ambassador Williamson on the Department's progress over the
past six months. He said that much of the recent progress was
the result of the departure of obstructionist Chief
Prosecutor Marinko Jurcevic. Schwendiman noted that while
Jurcevic has been on extended sick leave, the Prosecutor's

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Office has moved forward the National War Crimes Strategy,
which will help to answer whether war crimes prosecutions
should be centralized and how long international assistance
will continue. Schwendiman added that in conjunction with
the strategy, his office is working on a case catalogue,
which will document all cases nation-wide. He warned,
however, that these successes could be rolled back if the
international secondees on the court were to leave as
scheduled. Finally, he informed Williamson of plans to
follow up on the S/WCI-hosted conference for regional
prosecutors in Brioni in May with visits to his counterparts
in Serbia, Croatia, and Montenegro.

Kreso: We Have a New Era of Cooperation
--------------


4. (C) State Court President Kreso thanked Ambassador
Williamson for USG support for the Court, noting that
Ambassador Williamson's support was essential because of the
media attacks and harassment that officials at the court
experience. Kreso added that the mandate for international
secondees should be extended because it is difficult to
handle war crimes and organized crimes cases with the current
political environment. Kreso also emphasized her support for
extending the international presence at the State Court and
the State Prosecutor's Office, saying that it would be more
difficult for nationals to prosecute alleged perpetrators
from their own ethnic group once the internationals leave in

009. She described a "new era of cooperation" between the
State Court, State Prosecutor's Office, and the High Judicial
and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC). Further progress on war
crimes prosecution, Kreso said, depends in part on efforts to
harmonize the country's legal codes, to complete the national
case inventory, and to improve regional cooperation.

The View from Other International Secondees
--------------


5. (C) At a dinner hosted by Ambassador English and
attended by Ambassador Williamson, international prosecutors
discussed the challenges their office is facing. They
declared that the Court had inconsistent practices in place
that were complicating their work, that the criminal code
needed to be more comprehensive, and that judges were not
reigning in defense counsels as they should. They insisted
that extending the secondee program is essential to protect
local prosecutors from political pressure, which is growing,
and would ensure that war crimes cases are prosecuted fairly
across all ethnic groups. The victim-based approach to case
selection criteria is an effective rebuttal to Dodik's false
assertions that the State Court and the State Prosecutor's
Office are biased against Serbs, they said. Separately,
during an informal meeting, U.S. judges described the hostile
environment their national colleagues face and stressed the
important role nationals play in insulating nationals from
political pressure and unfounded charges of ethnic bias.


Novkovic: War Crimes Prosecution Has Taken Too Long
-------------- --------------


6. (C) HJPC President Milorad Novkovic, who assumed his
position in June, told Ambassador Williamson that war crimes
cases are among his chief priorities. He complained about
the lengthy war crimes processing at the State Court and the
State Prosecutor's Office and suggested that entity courts
could also play a role in processing war crimes cases.
However, Novkovic echoed Barasin and Kreso in expressing
strong support for extending the international presence in
state-level judicial institutions past 2009.

Colak and Spiric Show Their Hands
--------------


7. (C) Minister of Justice Barisa Colak declared that
Bosnians must do a better job of improving regional
cooperation but rejected the idea of having internationals
work on organized crime cases. (Note: Colak is an HDZ-BiH

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member, whose party president, Dragan Covic, was the subject
of a failed corruption prosecution by the State Court Special
Department for Organized Crime. End Note) Colak deflected a
question on the basis of HDZ BiH opposition to assistance on
organized crime prosecution.


8. (C) Prime Minister Spiric acknowledged that Bosniaks
have doubts about war crimes trials in Belgrade or Zagreb,
and suggested that bilateral agreements with Croatia and
Serbia in establishing shared prosecutorial criteria could
allow Bosnia's State Prosecutor's Office to transfer war
crimes cases to regional capitals. Ambassador Williamson
welcomed this view and suggested that prosecutors could
initially transfer a few cases as confidence-building
measures and then transfer cases on a case-by-case basis. On
extending the international secondees, Spiric said he
welcomes any form of "useful assistance" but accused the
international secondees of advocating for "their own
survival" and for failing to produce results in organized
crime cases. This prompted the Ambassador to underscore to
Spiric that it was top justice officials who had requested a
continued international presence, not the internationals.


Lajcak: "War Crimes is OHR's Least Problematic Area"
-------------- --------------


9. (C) High Representative Miroslav Lajcak told Ambassador
Williamson that war crimes is an area in which OHR continues
to have significant influence, highlighting that OHR actions
against war criminal support networks played an important
role in the June arrest of Stojan Zupljanin. Williamson said
that the U.S. was disappointed with the absence of language
referring to Serbia's non-cooperation with the ICTY in the
most recent Peace Implementation (PIC) communique. He also
made clear that the U.S. expects meaningful implementation of
the PIC rule of law benchmarks. Lajcak acknowledged that he
bore responsibility for the communique's language, and he
acknowledged U.S. expectations about the benchmarks.


10. (C/NF) Lajcak lamented that the international community
lacks the political will to "finish the job" in Bosnia and is
divided about OHR's future. The U.S., the UK, and Turkey are
arguing for robust implementation of the PIC's conditions and
benchmarks, Russia favors an immediate closeout of OHR, and
most of the EU countries fall somewhere in the middle.
Lajcak said that Europe was "too focused on Serbia" and
failed to appreciate the impact its policies were having on
Bosnia. Lajcak also explained that the EU "naively believes"
that it can apply the same accession model to Bosnia it
applied to other East European countries and "everything here
will be fine." He beseeched Williamson and other senior U.S.
officials to have a dialogue with the EU about the way ahead
in Bosnia. Finally, regarding the secondees, Lajcak
expressed full support for the proposed extension but
cautioned that the international community must have
"realistic expectations."

The PDHR's Robust Role in Rule-of-Law
--------------


11. (C) During a separate meeting, Principal Deputy High
Representative (PDHR) Raffi Gregorian briefed Ambassador
Williamson on his efforts to guide the drafting of the
National War Crimes Strategy in order to generate support
from Bosnian politicians, and to advance regional
cooperation. Gregorian noted that he is working with the
State Prosecutor's Office to identify specific cases that can
be transferred to regional capitals as initial test cases.
Gregorian expressed concerns about the difficult environment
in which Barasin and other judicial officials are operating.
As an illustration, he recounted an anecdote in which a
Person Indicted for War Crimes (PIFWC) supporter warned
Barasin, in the presence of an international colleague, that
after the internationals leave, Barasin would be on "the
other side of the table."

Comment

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12. (C) Since the departure of Chief Prosecutor Jurcevic,
the State Court is on a stronger footing than it was a few
months ago. These improvements, however, have caused
political attention and criticism to focus on the court. In
the current political climate, the extension of the
international secondees is of the utmost importance for
Bosnian state courts to effectively prosecute war crimes and
organized crimes cases. Prosecutors and judges still fear
reprisals when they prosecute individuals from their own
ethnic group. International secondees offer cover to judges
and prosecutors. One possible solution to reducing pressure
on the courts would be to extend only those secondees that
are working on war crimes cases, leaving the organized crime
section to fall under political pressure. While this
possibility seems an obvious solution, it would risk creating
a Bosnia in which corruption and impunity rule.


13. (U) Ambassador Williamson cleared this message.

ENGLISH