29.12.2008 - Council of Ministers of BiH has adopted today the National Strategy for Processing of War Crimes Cases. The Strategy provides systematic approach to solving the problem of the large number of war crimes cases in the courts and prosecutor's offices of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The document defines the timeframes, capacities, criteria and mechanisms of managing war crimes cases, standardization of court practices, issues of regional cooperation, protection and support to victims and witnesses, as well as financial aspects, and supervision over the implementation of the Strategy.

The Strategy emphasizes the need to process the most complex and highest priority war crimes cases within seven years, and other war crimes cases within 15 years. A Central register of all war crimes cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be established at the level of the Court and Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the same time, the functional mechanisms of managing cases will be provided, i.e. of their allocation between the state judiciary and judiciary of the entities. The most responsible perpetrators of war crimes, who are the priority, will be prosecuted before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the help of harmonized criteria for the case selection.

Harmonization of court practice in war crimes cases is also envisaged, in order to ensure legal security and equality of citizens before the law.