KTRZ - Specific criminal offence and perpetrator - war crime

Indictments filed: 11 indictments against 25 persons

Cessation of investigation: in 6 cases against 46 persons

Non-conducting of investigation: in 12 cases against 164 persons

Transferred to another prosecutor’s office for prosecution: 11 cases, 72 persons

Total number of resolved KTRZ cases at the end of the reporting period: 41 cases, 352 persons

Unresolved KTRZ cases at the end of the reporting period: 162 cases, 2006 persons.

KTARZ - Unspecified criminal offence or perpetrator - war crime; total No. of resolved cases:

Non-conducting of investigation: in 128 cases

Resolved in another way: 104 cases

Converted to a KTRZ case: 2 cases

Transferred to another prosecutor’s office: 32 cases

Unresolved at the end of the reporting period: 740 cases

KTNRZ - Specific criminal offence with an unidentified perpetrator - war crime; total number of resolved cases

Non-conducting of investigation: in 3 cases

Cessation of investigation: in 0 cases

Resolved in another way: 12 cases

Converted to a KTRZ case: 0 cases

Transferred to another prosecutor’s office: 48 cases

Unresolved at the end of the reporting period: 236 cases.

One or more persons in 86 KTRZ cases are still inaccessible; of this number, 42 persons are persons with the designation “A”.

Total number of unresolved persons with the designation “A” in the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina /PO BiH/: 104 persons in 39 KTRZ cases. The PO BiH completed in different ways activities related to a total of 707 persons with the designation “A”; of this number, 337 persons were transferred to other prosecutor’s offices.

The activities of the Supervisory Body for Monitoring the Implementation of the Revised State Strategy for Work on War Crimes Cases (hereinafter: Revised State Strategy), in whose work the Head of the Special Department for War Crimes participates as a no-vote representative of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, continued in the course of 2025. At the proposal of the Supervisory Body, the Revised State Strategy period was extended until the end of 2028, activities will continue in the next period and the PO BiH is continuously submitting its reports on work on war crimes cases to the Supervisory Body.

Of exceptional importance for the achievement of strategic goal VII of the Revised State Strategy is the Regional Conference of Prosecutors on Cooperation in Prosecuting War Crimes, which was held between 2 September and 4 September in Brijuni, and which was organised by the State Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Croatia, with the participation of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals /IRMCT OTP/ and with the support of the UNDP, from the funds of the European Union and the UK Government. The Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Head of the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the heads of Sections within the Special Department for War Crimes, participated in the aforementioned conference. Recommendations and conclusions of importance for further cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the countries of the region regarding the transferring of cases, both in the investigation phase and following the filing of an indictment, were made. The delegations agreed to continue with the development of specific plans regarding the transferring of cases and reiterated their commitment to work together in finding solutions for the remaining obstacles and challenges in processing the transferred cases. They expressed their position that it was necessary to continue with maintaining and intensifying communication between the prosecutor’s office transferring a case and the one taking it over, both before and after the transfer of the case. Further conclusions relate to the exchange of data regarding existing mutual legal assistance and cooperation requests that have not yet been responded and the efforts to respond to them within a reasonable time, as well as issues related to the transfer of exhibits, summoning of witnesses, cooperation with the IRMCT OTP in matters related to witnesses to whom the Tribunal or the Mechanism has granted protective measures, as well as issues related to the exercising of injured parties’ property claims, especially in cases where the victims of sexual violence are at the same time injured parties. The commitment to the continuation of cooperation and the practice of holding periodic regional prosecutors’ meetings was expressed, and the possibility of holding bilateral meetings on specific transferred cases was presented.

Until 31 December 2025, through regional cooperation, a total of 5 Department I KTRZ cases were resolved, which were transferred to another jurisdiction. Of these, a total of 2 cases were transferred to the relevant authorities of the Republic of Serbia - 1 in the investigation phase and 1 in the criminal complaint phase. Three (3) KTRZ cases were transferred to relevant authorities of the Republic of Croatia - 1 in the investigation phase and 2 in the criminal complaint phase.

Pursuant to the legislation and for the purpose of achieving Strategic Goal III of the Revised State Strategy, the complexity of KTRZ cases was reviewed in order to prioritize the processing of more complex war crimes cases by the PO BiH. In the course of 2025, all KTRZ, KTARZ and KTNRZ cases were continuously updated on a semi-annual basis in order to facilitate the monitoring of the work on the aforementioned cases. In early January 2026, the PO BiH notified the Standing Commission for the Efficiency and Quality of Prosecutor’s Offices of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: Standing Commission of the HJPC of Bosnia and Herzegovina) about all open KTRZ, KTARZ and KTNRZ cases and the details of proceedings in the course of 2025 by submitting previously determined schedules with the requested data.

The Chief Prosecutor of the PO BiH issued individual binding instructions setting the deadlines for making prosecutorial decisions in priority cases. In May 2025, in the PO BiH premises, the Chief Prosecutor and the Head of the PO BiH Special Department for War Crimes held a meeting with IRMCT representatives and exchanged information regarding the aforementioned cases. With a view to handle priority cases as efficiently as possible, continuous cooperation and communication was achieved through online meetings of prosecutors in charge of cases and the IRMCT representatives for the purpose of exchanging information, collecting evidence and providing other forms of support.

In order for the PO BiH to process more complex war crimes cases as a matter of priority, the PO BiH transferred the conducting of the proceedings for 6 KTRZ cases against 21 persons based on decisions of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on their transfer to entity-level prosecutor’s offices and that of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina in accordance with Article 27a of the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina /CPC BiH/. In addition, in the course of 2025, the conducting of proceedings in 48 KTNRZ and 32 KTARZ cases was transferred to the entity-level prosecutor’s offices and that of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In accordance with the obligations assumed from the Revised State Strategy and Annex B to it, the PO BiH carried out necessary verifications and compiled a summary of updated information on cases in which persons with the “A” designation were recorded by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia /ICTY/ (the “standard designation ‘A’ - sufficient evidence”). In accordance with the conclusions of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH (hereinafter: HJPC BiH), the PO BiH regularly submits information to the Standing Commission of the HJPC BiH on cases in which persons with the “A” designation were recorded. As of 31 December 2025, the total number of unresolved “A” persons in the PO BiH is 104 persons in 39 KTRZ cases. The PO BiH completed in different ways the work regarding a total of 707 persons with the “A” designation, and of this number, a total of 337 persons were transferred to other prosecutor’s offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina for processing.

In the reporting period, ending with 31 December 2025, 251 persons in 86 KTRZ PO BiH cases were recorded as inaccessible, of which 42 persons were persons with “A” designation. The listed persons are located in the countries of the region and other countries throughout the world, for which prosecutors regularly undertake activities provided for by law (sending letters of request for international legal assistance, issuing arrest warrants, etc.). The PO BiH will continue to focus its work in 2026 so that as many of these cases as possible are transferred to prosecutors’ offices in the region, at the investigation stage. A schedule of the statuses of persons with “A” designation in the respective entity prosecutor’s offices, the District Prosecutor’s Office of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the PO BiH as at 31.12.2025 is given at the end of this Information.

In accordance with the Chief Prosecutor’s Mandatory Instruction, filed indictments are published on the PO BiH website, which increases the transparency of the PO BiH.

The long-standing cooperation with the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina has continued, and the PO BiH is continuously conducting activities aimed at finding missing persons within the Terra case. During 2025, the PO BiH continued its activities in its case Ref. No. T20 0 KTARZ 0011667 16, which is under the supervision of the PO BiH Chief Prosecutor and the PO BiH Head of the Special Department for War Crimes. In this case, information is collected and verified on the possible locations of individual and mass graves in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Based on the aforementioned case, SIPA formed the Operational Team “TERRA”, whose members act on the orders of the PO BiH. From the date of its formation until 31 December 2025, in case Ref. No. T20 0 KTARZ 0011667 16 a total of 113 persons were found and exhumed. During 2025, 2 bodies were found and exhumed.

Together with representatives of the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina, PO BiH representatives participated in the training “Analytical data processing in the processes of searching, exhuming and identifying missing persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a focus on institutional cooperation”. In June 2025, a workshop was held and was attended by representatives of the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the State Investigation and Protection Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina - SIPA, the Intelligence and Security Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina - OBA/OSA, the International Commission on Missing Persons - ICMP and the PO BiH. The primary topics were obstacles and challenges in the work on resolving the issue of missing persons as an issue of priority importance in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The need for periodic meetings was recognised in order to more easily overcome obstacles and more efficiently proceed in specific exhumation cases that have been waiting for a long time for implementation due to various reasons such as the possible threat of mines, potential high costs of exhumation, insufficiently substantiated or explained requests, and the like. For this purpose, operational groups have been formed for specific areas and a list of future activities has been established that will continue throughout 2025.

In order to act in accordance with Revised State Strategy Strategic Measure VIII - Protection and Support to Victims and Witnesses, in the reporting period, PO BiH representatives participated in the Regional Conference on the Exchange of Experiences of Judicial Services for Victims and Witnesses Support within the framework of the regional project “EU Support for Building Trust in the Western Balkans” in November 2025. The aim of the project is to provide support in resolving some of the consequences of armed conflicts in the region, strengthen the rule of law and social resilience and cohesion, and provide support in the process of EU accession and building lasting peace in the region. One of the key objectives of the project is to improve the provision of support to victims and witnesses in the processing of war crimes cases. Also, the activities of the Coordination Body for Witness Support, which operates within the project component of the HJPC BiH “Improving Work on War Crimes Cases” IPA 2022 in cooperation with the Witness Support Departments of the Court of BiH and the PO BiH, has continued.

During the reporting period, a significant number of meetings were held with representatives of associations of victims of war crimes, at which representatives of the associations had the opportunity to express their views on the work of the PO BiH, but also to share certain findings that may be relevant to specific cases. The positive effect of the aforementioned meetings is reflected in the progress in cooperation between victims and prosecutors in specific cases, and in the easier exchange of findings and information that is important for more efficient proceedings.

The PO BiH Chief Prosecutor and the Head of the Special Department for War Crimes regularly supervise the implementation of the provisions of the Revised State Strategy, through departmental collegiums, and report on the work on war crimes cases to the Supervisory Body for Monitoring the Implementation of the Revised State Strategy and the Standing Commission of the HJPC of BiH. The PO BiH submits data on work and a range of other information to the IRMCT OTP twice a year in order to compile a semi-annual report to the UN Security Council.

During 2025, continuous training of PO BiH Special Department for War Crimes prosecutors and professional staff delivered by domestic and international organisations has continued with the aim of improving the efficiency and quality of work on war crimes cases.