First- and second-year students at the Sociology Department and Security and Peace Studies Department of the Faculty of Political Sciences on Tuesday attended the trial of Djordje Ristanic, who has been charged with committing crimes against humanity in the municipality of Brcko during wartime.
For most of them, this was their first visit to a judicial institution.
The students were led by Emir Vajzovic, a professor and representative of the Institute for Social Research at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo.
Erna Mackic, BIRN BiH’s editor-in-chief, addressed the students and explained to them the history of the Bosnian state court’s work in trying war crimes.
The students spoke to Vajzovic and Mackic about the importance of trying war crimes irrespective of the ethnicity of the defendants, as well as the importance of informing the public about the work of one of the highest-level judicial institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The students agreed that trying all crimes and coming to terms with the past was necessary for implementing the reconciliation process and sustaining peace in this area.
The visit to the Bosnian state court resulted from a collaboration between the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo and BIRN BiH, which involves various joint projects and the education of students in all of the faculty’s departments.