Category: News and Events

Reporters from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Visit Hague Tribunal

BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina has organized a seven-day study tour to the Hague for members of the Association of Court Reporters, AIS, comprised of journalists from across Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The aim of the visit to the Hague is to enable journalists from Bosnia and Herzegovina to become closely acquainted with the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY.

According to the programme, the journalists attended trials for war crimes in the case of Radovan Karadzic, Zdravko Tolimir, Mico Stanisic and Stojan Zupljanin and a plea hearing in the case of Ratko Mladic.

The journalists had the opportunity to prepare reports for their media stations with support from BIRN staff members in writing those articles.

In addition, workshops were held in order to discuss the achievements of the Court over the past 15 years of its work, reporting on mass crimes, contempt of court, work with witnesses and other topics. 

The journalists held meetings with Serge Brammertz, Chief Prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal, John Hocking, ICTY Registrar and representatives of the Defence Council, Office for Victims and Witnesses, Detention Unit and other ICTY services.

Fifteen journalists from several media stations from Bosnia and Herzegovina participated in the visit to the Hague from July 3 to 10.

Study Tour on Commemorative Cultures in Germany

Germany has not let the Holocaust, as the biggest crime committed against Jews in the history of mankind, be forgotten. Representatives of NGOs and the media from the former Yugoslavia, particularly the countries caught by the war in the near past, had a chance to see how that country deals with its past.

A representative of BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina was among the participants in “Study Tour on Commemorative Cultures in Germany”, which was organized by Robert Bosh Stiftung.

The study visit began in Berlin, where the participants visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe that was built six years ago. In addition to huge grey slabs, the Memorial contains an exhibition of big photographs of the murdered people and a room of the murdered people where visitors can hear personal stories. At the very entrance to the Museum underground area there is a sign saying: “It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say”.

During their stay in Berlin the participants visited several monuments, as well as the places reminding of the Germany’s struggle to face the past and pay respect to victims. Besides that, they had an opportunity to see how audio and video recordings of the testimonies of victims, who survived detention camps, are archived.

The NGO and media representatives from the former Yugoslavia visited the “Buchenwald” detention camp, near Weimar, where 56,000 people died.

Daniel Gaede, who guided the group and explained individual parts of the detention camp, himself is a victim. Daniel and his brother went to Palestine and Israel in order to take part in reconciliation of the two peoples. However, a Palestinian threw a bomb inside their bus. Daniel’s brother got killed, while Daniel lost one eye.

A memorial board on which names of all nations, whose members were the victims, are carved can be found in Buchenwald. Among those nations are Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats and others. The board is specific because of its warmth, as its temperature is kept at the temperature of the human body.

The participants in “Study Tour on Commemorative Cultures in Germany” also visited Munich, where they had a chance to speak to the Chief Prosecutor and court representatives, who processed crimes, as well as journalists, who reported from those court processes.

Besides that, the participants watched a movie titled “And Along Come Tourists” directed by Robert Thalheim in 2007. The movie demonstrates how a person can deal with crime consequences.

The study visit to commemorative cultures in Germany took place from June 19 to 25 this year.

 

Study Tour to the Hague by BiH Journalists

The Balkans Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN organized a seven-day study tour to the Hague for thirteen journalists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who had an opportunity to get an insight into the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY.

BIRN organized the tour with support from the Governments of Norway and Switzerland and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Norwegian and Swiss Ministries of Foreign Affairs provided financial resources for 11 journalists, while the OSCE financed two more.

Representatives of the Tribunal and Prosecution, as well as all other services within that institution, presented the work of the Tribunal from all angles to the journalists, members of the Association of Court Reporters, AIS.

BIRN Director Anisa Suceska-Vekic says that, thanks to the understanding of and support from the Governments of Norway and Switzerland and OSCE, the journalists, who monitor war crimes trials held in Bosnia and Herzegovina, have gained new knowledge about the international practices in war-crimes cases.

“Through the study tour, BIRN wanted to enable court reporters from Bosnia and Herzegovina to gain a new experience and improve their skills by familiarizing themselves with the work of the international court,” Suceska-Vekic said.

During their stay at the Hague the journalists attended three lectures, covering a set of diverse topics, like work on investigations and proceedings in courtroom, issues related to proving guilt, defence of indictees and contempt of court, protection of witnesses and organization of the Detention Unit.

Serge Brammertz, Chief Prosecutor, John Hocking, Registrar, Rob Reid, Chief of Investigations with the Prosecution, David Kennedy, Chief of the Detention Unit, defence counsels and representatives of other services spoke about the mentioned topics.

One segment of the tour concerned the openness of the Tribunal towards public and accessibility of thousands of court decisions and pieces of evidence though its website. Representatives of the Outreach Programme provided the journalists with details about this subject.

Bosnian journalists had a chance to hear interesting experiences from their colleagues from SENSE and Beta news agencies, who have reported from trials held before the Tribunal for many years already.

In addition, they attended a plea hearing in the case of Ratko Mladic, former Commander of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, as well as the trials of Radovan Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska, and other indictees, who are charged with crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The journalists prepared trial reports for their media outlets with assistance of and support from BIRN BiH. Besides that, they conducted interviews with Hague Tribunal representatives and took statements from victims, who attended indictee Mladic’s plea hearing.

The journalists from Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Zenica, Bihac, Doboj and Brcko gave high marks to the study tour and experiences gained through their visit to the Hague Tribunal, pointing out that they had a chance to exchange opinions with their colleagues and familiarize themselves with the work of the institution dealing with processing of the most-responsible war crimes perpetrators.

At the same time a study tour to the Hague was organized for journalists and editors from Serbia, who attended joint lectures with journalists and editors from Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was done with the aim of establishing as good regional cooperation as possible.

 

BIRN BiH and Norwegian government continue cooperation

BIRN BIH is honored to announce that Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to continue its support to our Justice Programme by the end of 2013.

BIRN BiH’s Justice Programme has had support of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs since the early days of the project in 2005

Launched in early 2005, BIRN-BiH’s justice programme aims to bridge the gap between judicial institutions, security organisations, local government and the citizens of BiH through timely, objective and reliable reporting on past crimes and the institutions and mechanisms for dealing with them.

Having identified the launch of a local War Crimes Chamber (WCC) as an historical opportunity to tackle what we see as the main stumbling-block for all major political, social and economic issues affecting the country, we have sought to rally media and civil society to engage in and support the delivery of information about war crimes related justice.

In the first two years of the programme, we trained ‘beat reporters’ from all the main print and electronic media outlets to monitor domestic prosecution of war crimes as well as educated and motivated civil society groups around the country to get involved and support war crimes related justice.

We facilitated a dialogue and cooperation between state and court officials, civil society and the BiH media and created specialised news portal Justice Report dedicated to war crimes trials in BiH. Moreover, in 2007 the online production of Justice Report was supplemented by an audio programme Radio Justice in order to increase the audience of the project.

Most recently, in 2010, we successfully launched a TV programme TV Justice that has been also shown on some main national TV stations.

In depths analysis, news and investigations done by BIRN BIH, made a huge impact in the whole society, but influence the process it self acting critical in some moments and offering insight to the public about what is going on behind closed doors of the court room or offices of local and international officials in the country.

Learning from this experience, BIRN recently has established a broader editorial team to cover so called ‘lower’ courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but is also looking to ensure visibility for the regional war crimes justice. New team will not only cover issues related to trails, but to the whole spectrum of transitional justice.

 

Microsoft Grant Approved

Microsoft has made a donation of software to the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, to support the network’s regional Journalism and Editing project.

The software contribution will enable BIRN Network Members to more easily carry out their daily reporting, both in the office and on the field, together with easing communication and collaboration.

In this way Microsoft is supporting BIRN’s mission to build and strengthen its interconnected cadre of journalists across the Balkans, probing and analysing key transition issues and the process of European integration for policy-makers and the public at large.

 

Domestic violence case addressed by BIRN is returned for retrial

In July 2011, “Justice in Kosovo” TV Programme addressed the case of a woman mistreated, beaten and intimidated by her ex husband. The victim had sought assistance from the police and the prosecutor’s office, resulting in the detention of the suspect, but who was released after just two days.

BIRN addressed this case and the lack of professionalism and seriousness that cases of domestic violence get by the institutions, namely the police and prosecution. It was only following BIRN’s monitoring of the case and research highlighted in “Justice in Kosovo” TV programme that the court and the prosecutor’s office put serious efforts into it.

The hearings were surrounded by many irregularities, some including allegations against the prosecutor, Zejnije Kela, who allegedly committed several professional and ethical violations in this case. After BIRN’s appeal sent to the Disciplinary Office of Prosecution against Mrs. Kela, the authority undertook disciplinary measures, requesting the Kosovo Prosecution Council to temporarily suspend her as prosecutor.

The judgment was reissued by the judge one week later, when BIRN’s court monitor noticed that one of the charges had not been mentioned in that judgment, according to which the defendant was sentenced to seven months of imprisonment, and an 800 euro fine. His detention was continued until the judge issues a final judgment regarding the case.

 

BIRN’s Kingdom of Coal Documentary Honoured

The “Kingdom of Coal” is a documentary produced by BIRN and Crossing bridges, which investigates the economic, health and environmental costs of coal, while exploring the potential for alternative energy in Kosovo.

In the most recent International Documentary and Short Film Festival, DOKUFEST, “Kingdom of Coal” was awarded the best film prize in the category for the environment, GreenDoc. Being the most prominent regional documentary film festival, exclusively dedicated to documentary films, DOKUFEST is organized in August in the picturesque and historical town of Prizren, which has already gained an international and regional reputation for its programme and high attendance.

Competing with other international films dealing with environmental issues, “Kingdom of Coal” was considered by the festival’s international jury to be a significant film for the region. The “Kingdom of Coal” was broadcast in Life in Kosovo show on September 01, 2011.

 

Digging Deeper reprint and Serbian translation

BIRN’s investigative journalism guide “Digging Deeper”, written by Sheila Coronel, director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and professor at Columbia University, New York, has been reprinted in English in response to high demand.

The book will be available for sale via BalkanInsight.com and through BIRN’s Belgrade office. If you require further information regarding the book’s availability, please contact [email protected].

The handbook reprint was made possible thanks to Erste Bank in Serbia.

The Serbian version of the book is currently being prepared. The handbook in Serbian, entitled “Iza kulisa”, is to be distributed to universities across Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro.

 

Second BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting

This year’s second annual BIRN Summer School took place in the Croatian resort of Opatija from 21st to 27th August 2011. As was the case last year, BIRN again gathered leading investigative journalists and trainers at the Summer School, as well as experienced journalists and trainees from the Balkans and elsewhere.

Trainers and leading journalists, like Sheila Coronel, Nick Davies, Helena Bengtsson, Paul Radu, Helen Darbishire, Drew Sullivan, Paul Bradshaw, Randall Joyce and more, held sessions during the week-long training course. The main daily topics addressed the fundamentals of investigative reporting, paper trails, investigative interviews and how to investigate organized crime and corruption.

“We are more than pleased to have well-known journalists for trainers and high quality attendees. All of them worked perfectly as a team,” said Jelena Cosic, BIRN Summer School project coordinator.

Under a new format introduced as of this year, participants were divided into groups and on the last day the groups presented the story ideas they had been working on since the beginning of the school. Five of the seven teams gained funding from SCOOP, a Danish organisation for investigative journalists.

The final day saw BIRN regional director Gordana Igric award certificates during a night cruise through the beautiful Kvarner Bay, thereby officially drawing a close to the 2011 Summer School.

 

The establishment of the Consultative Council for Justice is halted

In late April 2011, the Government of Kosovo issued a decision on the establishment of the Consultative Council for Justice, as an advisory body to the government. This decision raised a number of reactions among lawyers and legal experts. Subsequently, in July 2011, “Justice in Kosovo” TV programme devoted a full episode to analysing the creation of this body. The TV programme looked into whether the decision was unconstitutional, including opinions and legal expertise from representatives of the Constitutional Court, civil society and independent lawyers.

With the exception of institutional representatives, the majority of those consulted believed the decision to be unconstitutional, particularly Article 9 of this decision, which is controversial, as it requires Kosovo’s judicial institutions to pass draft legislation through this body first. Since this is considered to be as a direct interference of the government to the judicial system, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the Kosovo Assembly reopened debate on the decision to establish the Consultative Council of Justice.

 Due to the refusal of key institutions—such as the Supreme Court and the Court Council—to send representatives in the Consultative Council of Justice, it will not achieve the necessary quorum to function as an authority.