Law.

Today we headed to the courthouse in Bosnia & Herzegovina. The court is split into three sections: war crimes, organized crime, and general crime. We met with a total of four speakers who each highlighted separate parts of Bosnia’s law system. . A lawyer, a legal assistant, and the two American judges took their time to meet with us. The two judges had ties to Northeastern University, one attended school there and the other had a son studying Computer Sciences.  In this meeting I became aware of the strength of our system, and how grateful I am for the Supreme Court and our legal system in general.

The biggest difference we discussed, was the actual lack of universal law.  A person tried in one court could end up with significantly less of a punishment then a person tried for the same crime in a different court. Punishments are not universal.

Since we are here studying about the recent war and the repercussions, we learned about the War Crime sector of the court. Because of the countless trials, and the outdated system, international judges were sent in to the country to help Bosnia try the war criminals in a more just manner. Each trial has three appointed judge, and one international judge which oversees the proceedings. The international judges are paid by their own countries; this then creates less of a financial burden for Bosnia & Herzegovina.  Although the international judges are working for a better legal system student at the university in Sarajevo are learning the outdated practices from the early 1970s. Fall of 2011, is the first time a class on procedural law is being taught. The judges have dedicated years of work and service to the Bosnian courthouse, but the two are not optimistic about the future of the Bosnian court. In fact, Judge Whalen said, “Since 2007, we see less and less hope for the future. Thing are not changing quickly, there is no forward progression”. Bosnians can now only hope for the best and look past ethnic conflicts. They should remember the war, but move on and work towards repairing their country.

In the afternoon we met with a Bosniak originally from the Republik of Srbska, who now lives in Boston, where he owns a restaurant (Sabur). He told us about his experiences as part of the Yugoslav National Army, and about how his officer was Milosevic. He was a decorated war soldier. In the early 1990s he started to hear about uprising, but then as time went on the conflict started to turn into a war. He was ready for the war, but being a Bosniak, he was caught in the dilemma of not having any weapons due to an embargo of arms within the region, and all weapons that had been stockpiled were property of the Serb army.  He also felt that on his trips home that nationalism is rising and another conflict is likely to come, he claimed, “This is a heated area, nothing is settled, the Dayton Agreement stopped the war, but nothing is solved.” The meeting with this man was unnerving he talked about the war as if it needed to happen.

For dinner, we met with the judge from the war court. He escorted us to dinner at the local beer distillery( above left). This building had historical importance since people could get fresh water here during the war. He also brought his friend Francine an International Relations professor at Ball State University. Both were very friendly and answered our numerous questions about the region. Later, we went for a stroll around the city to see the Eternal Flame (above right), the location of the assassination of Archduke Frances Ferdinand, and the Austro-Hungarian inspired architecture. This city is rich with culture, and it just saddens me to think that if another war erupted some of these things could be so easily destroyed.