The Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in order to protect the identity of protected witnesses in cases outside of criminal proceedings, adopted the Rulebook on identity protection and conduct in cases outside of criminal proceedings in which persons who have previously been given identity protection measures in criminal proceedings participate.
The Rulebook prescribes the manner of dealing with confidential data, how cases involving persons under a pseudonym are instituted, minutes, documents are kept, data is archived and the like, in order to ensure that the identity of a protected witness determined in criminal proceedings is not revealed, the Supreme Court of FBiH announced.
The rulebook was adopted after the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina established that there is no clear regulation in the legislation of the Federation of BiH that would regulate the issue of protection of personal data of protected witnesses in the decisions of regular courts outside of criminal proceedings. Therefore, the Municipal Court in Sarajevo, the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo and the Supreme Court of FBiH were ordered to take appropriate measures within their jurisdiction to regulate the rules of conduct in cases outside of criminal proceedings, which require the protection of the identity of the parties due to their status as witnesses under protective measures (pseudonyms), determined in criminal proceedings.
– This is a long-standing problem that has been recorded in situations where witnesses injured in criminal proceedings, most often victims of rape such as war crimes but also other criminal acts, receive a pseudonym in order to protect their identity, and after that they want to start another proceeding, usually a civil one for compensation of damages, and then they face numerous difficulties during the conduct of such proceedings, given that there is no clear systemic solution that would guarantee their identity protection in those proceedings and facilitate access to justice – said the Acting President of the Supreme Court FBiH Bozidarka Dugonjić.
According to her, the Supreme Court of FBiH, in order to consistently implement the decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH, sent the Federal Ministry of Justice an initiative to amend the Law on Civil Procedure of FBiH, which refers to the addition of a new chapter of that law entitled “Procedures in litigation regarding the exercise of the rights of persons who have been given measures with the aim of protecting their identity”, and includes a proposal for legal provisions that would consistently regulate the proceedings in such cases.
The Supreme Court of FBiH has informed all municipal and cantonal courts in FBiH about the need to regulate the rules of conduct in cases outside of criminal proceedings, which require the protection of the identity of the parties due to their status as witnesses under identity protection measures determined in criminal proceedings, in order to ensure effective protection of the identity of those persons in the territory of the entire Federation of BiH, until the adoption of the legal solution, that is, the protection of their constitutional and convention right to private life, writes RTV TK.
