26/01/2011 Session
Strasbourg, 26.01.2011 – In a resolution adopted unanimously today, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has called on the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Kosovo* to improve the protection of witnesses in war crimes cases tried in national courts. As the mandate of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will soon expire, most of these cases are now tried in the national courts.
The report on the subject by Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD) emphasises that the level of witness protection varies greatly across the region and that this has had a whole range of consequences including the disclosure of the identity of protected witnesses in Croatia, witnesses being threatened and intimidated in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and witnesses who are on the point of testifying being assassinated in Kosovo. The Assembly is of the view that witnesses “are owed reliable and durable protection” and that, without this, “justice and reconciliation cannot be achieved”.
The Assembly also considers that it is not in the interest of justice for the identity of all anonymous witnesses to be systematically revealed to the defence as this puts such persons at risk; it proposes that the ICTY should make use of a “special advocate”, independent of both the prosecution and the defence. It also suggests that in view of “ICTY’s long-term (and moral) commitment towards its own witnesses, a residual mechanism, with a view to continuing to maintain witness protection after its mandate ends, should also be established” and proposes that this mission should be assigned to the International Criminal Court.
*All reference to Kosovo, whether to the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.