OSCE Croatia Mission calls for further training on war crimes trials, better judicial co-operation between states

ZAGREB, 20 August 2004 - The decision by the Supreme Court of Croatia to annul the first instance verdict in the so-called Lora war crimes case and return the case for retrial indicates that additional measures are needed to ensure that all parts of the Croatian judiciary are prepared to conduct war crime trials.

"The Supreme Court verdict demonstrates the need to expand training on war crime trials to all county court judges and prosecutors," said the Head of the OSCE Mission to Croatia, Ambassador Peter Semneby.

The Supreme Court concluded that the Split County Court had failed to establish the facts, and, in particular, to summon several witnesses proposed by the prosecution. The Court thus annulled the first instance verdict and returned the case for retrial before a different panel of judges.

"Since many of the witnesses that were not heard live in Serbia and Montenegro, the verdict also underlined the importance of improving inter-state judicial co-operation," Ambassador Semneby said.

The Supreme Court decision is consistent with observations made by the OSCE Mission during its monitoring of war crime trials in Croatia. Between January 2002 and August 2004, the Supreme Court reversed 47 out of 70 individual County Court verdicts in war crime trials. With the release of two war crime reports in June, the Mission acknowledged recent improvements and identified areas where further reform was needed.

The Mission has welcomed and participated in the initial round of training seminars on war crime trials for judges and prosecutors which were held from May 2004. It is ready to provide further assistance as the training continues.