Ahead of today’s Security Council session in New York, in which the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) Work Report was to be presented, Justice Minister Nela Kuburović met with the former Head Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the present IRMCT Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz.

Brammertz re-stated his support for the adoption and the implementation of Serbia’s National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes and the Prosecutorial Strategy, noting that the human resources capacity of the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor required further strengthening. The Justice Minister said that one deputy prosecutor had been appointed recently, that two more were in the process of being appointed and three other new deputy public prosecutors and four judicial assistants were to be appointed in July.

Kuburović and Brammertz again emphasised that a solid regional cooperation was necessary for an efficient prosecution of war crimes. The Justice Minister noted that cooperation between Serbia and Bosnia&Herzegovina was good and that the Serbian judicial organs had accepted certain verdicts of the courts in Bosnia&Herzegovina.

Discussing the Office’s continued work progress, Kuburović stressed that, by the end of the year, the Judicial Academy would start giving training to judges and prosecutors working on war crimes cases. The news of training was well received by Brammertz who extended his full support in the preparation of the training program and its implementation.