BOSNIA - HIGHREP INZKO DISCUSSES EXTENDING THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SARAJEVO 000515 SIPDIS EUR (JONES),EUR/SCE (FOOKS, MCGUIRE),S/WCI (WILLIAMSON, VIBUL-JOLLES); NSC FOR HELGERSON; OSD FOR BEIN E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL KCRM KJUS BK SUBJECT: BOSNIA - HIGHREP INZKO DISCUSSES EXTENDING THE PRESENCE OF INTERNATIONAL JUDGES AND PROSECUTORS WITH QUINT AMBASSADORS Classified By: Ambassador Charles English for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: High Representative Inzko met with Quint Ambassadors on April 20 to discuss extending the presence of the international secondees working at the State Court and the State Prosecutor's Office past the legislatively-mandated December 2009 deadline. Inzko expressed strong support for the work of the secondees, and intimated that he is willing to use the Bonn Powers to extend their mandate, given political opposition to the initiative and the relatively short time frame now available for passing the necessary legislation. The Ambassador stressed that the U.S., together with the European Commission, had long advocated the extension of the secondees, but we had not been able to gain meaningful political support from EU member states. The Quint Ambassadors agreed to discuss the issue with capitals and to do a joint demarche in the next several days to Justice Minister Colak urging him to send the necessary legislative changes to the Council of Ministers to meet a rapidly approaching deadline for a decision on the initiative. Recognizing the likely failure of such an initiative - a number of party leaders or high-ranking government officials face prosecution as a result of the efforts of the internationals - we will soon have to determine whether the US will support use of the Bonn Powers to extend the period of their mandate. END SUMMARY. HighRep Inzko Supports Extending the Secondees' Presence -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) HighRep Inzko held a lunch with Quint Ambassadors on April 20 to discuss extending the presence of the international judges and prosecutors working at the State court and the State Prosecutor's Office. These secondees work on terrorism cases and the country's most egregious war crimes, organized crime, economic crime and corruption cases. Inzko said he supports extending the presence of the secondees, noting that it was the right thing to do given the valuable contributions the secondees make to the State Court and the State Prosecutor's Office. State Court President Meddzida Kreso and State Prosecutor Milorad Barasin had requested that the secondees' mandate be extended until 2012 on the grounds that the internationals are needed to ensure that important reforms are continued, such as the use of case selection criteria for war crimes and organized crimes cases, to help build public confidence in the State Court and the State Prosecutor's Office, and to provide protection to these young institutions and their national staff from external political pressure. They have been seeking to extend prosecutors and judges in both the Special Departments for War Crimes and Organized Crime; however, judges would now be limited to the appellate level. ¶3. (C) For fully a year, the initiative has been stalled by State Minister of Justice Barisa Colak, who has refused to send draft changes to the Law on the State Court and the Law on the State Prosecutor's Office to the Council of Ministers because his political party leader Dragan Covic, President of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ-BiH),is opposed to extending judges and prosecutors on organized crime. Covic has been prosecuted for corruption, and may soon face additional charges brought by these very prosecutors. Republika Srpska Prime Minister Milorad Dodik has also repeatedly called for the departure of the secondees. These calls have intensified following the decision by the State Prosecutor's Office to investigate allegations of corruption by the Dodik government, a case led by an international prosecutor in a section headed by an international. Inzko intimated that he would consider using the Bonn Powers to impose the needed legislative changes. He noted that even if Colak sent the legislative package to the Council of Ministers, the Council of Ministers would not pass the measure. Moreover, the initiative would never get RS support in Parliament. Previous US Efforts Frustrated by Lack of Euro Support -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) The Ambassador pointed out that the U.S. had long supported extending the presence of the secondees, and had been joined in this effort by the European Commission (which is providing 3 million euros to fund the extension). However, the European Union member states had been reluctant to lend the required political support. They are only coming SARAJEVO 00000515 002 OF 002 around now that a Swedish-funded study had recommended that the secondees be extended. The fact that the State Court and State Prosecutor's Office are facing significant budget cuts and that concern has increased over Dodik's obstruction of state-level judicial and law enforcement institutions have increased the Europeans' willingness to extend the secondees. If the Europeans had expressed support last year when the U.S. and the national leadership of the judiciary had asked them to, we would be operating in far more favorable political climate, the Ambassador noted. ¶5. (C) The Ambassador said that the international community would have to consider the consequences of an imposition of the legislative changes by the HighRep. If the HighRep imposes the changes, Dodik would accuse the international community of obstructing the country's democratic, legislative processes, and of using the judiciary to do its political bidding by targeting him and his government for investigation and prosecution. Because Dodik has a personal stake as a result of the corruption investigation he faces, he may carry out his threat of taking Serbs out of state-level institutions. Even if the HighRep does not impose the changes, we should expect Dodik to continue his efforts to obstruct the investigation, the Ambassador noted. Dodik has threatened to act if the RS is asked to turn over additional documents or RS officials are called upon to provide sworn testimony; use of the Bonn Powers makes this possible confrontation more likely. Next Steps -------------- ¶6. (C) The Quint Ambassadors told Inzko that they would have to discuss the issue with their capitals. The French Ambassador made clear that, though she did not favor using the Bonn Powers to extend the presence of the secondees, she would support the group consensus. The Quint Ambassadors also agreed to present a joint demarche to Justice Minister Colak urging him to send the draft legislative amendments to the Council of Ministers for consideration at the earliest opportunity. ¶7. (C) Coincidentally, on April 21, the RS daily Glas Srpske ran a dated comment by OHR expressing support for the extension of the secondees. It noted that, according to OHR, the European Union and the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia support extending the mandate of the secondees, and that the "foreigners are a guarantee that there are no nationalistic motives behind the decisions of the BiH Court." It also noted that RS Minister of Justice Dzerard Selman, the RS Government, and the RS National Assembly believe that the domestic judiciary should take over the processing of cases, without elaborating on this position. Comment -------------- ¶8. (C) We welcome HighRep Inzko's engagement on the issue. We have been actively supporting the idea of amending the laws since last February. The European Commission subsequently joined us in this effort, but the European bilateral member states' support until recently had not been forthcoming, and HighRep Lajcak did not engage on the issue adequately. Given the short timeframe, it will be difficult for the initiative to go through the normal legislative process. If it is not passed by June 30, it will be increasingly difficult to keep the secondee program going, since the internationals are beginning to leave Bosnia. Moreover, they are no longer able to work on new cases. Bosnian political support for the extension has declined because of the number of local political leaders implicated in corruption. Imposition of the legislation by the HighRep would be a highly controversial move, one which could spark a confrontation with Dodik. We believe that it is the right thing to do in terms of supporting state-level institutions which are critical to our strategy of seeing Bosnia's integration into Euro-Atlantic structures, breaking the nexus between nationalism and corruption that has plagued Bosnia's domestic politics, and promoting the rule of law, but we should weigh the consequences carefully. ENGLISH