Chief Prosecutor Milanko Kajganić stated at a press conference in Sarajevo that the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina achieved significant results in the prosecution of war crimes, organized crime and corruption in 2025, with an increased number of indictments and convictions. He announced that the work priority in 2026 will be the intensification of investigations in cases of organized crime, especially those based on evidence from the SKY and ANOM applications.
Kajganić presented key findings from the report on the work of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the year 2025, which he submitted to the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina last week.
Almost 300 accused of war crimes before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Speaking about the work of the Special Department for War Crimes, he stated that there are currently 51 cases against 234 accused persons before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while five cases against 11 accused persons are before the Appellate Department. In addition, 43 indictments were brought against 50 unavailable persons.
– So, almost 300 people are currently accused of war crimes before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. When we take into account that since the establishment of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 585 persons have been judged so far, this speaks of the results of the department’s work in the last few years. Approximately 245 persons are awaiting trial or are in the process of being tried before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina – stated Kajganić.
He added that one of the key problems in these cases is the fact that the defendants and witnesses are mostly elderly.
The dynamics of the trial is slower due to the complexity of the case
– We are not satisfied with the dynamics of the trial, but these are objective circumstances that we cannot influence. In the last few years, we have focused the capacities of the war crimes department on the most complex cases, which is why we have more than ten defendants in one case – said the chief prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor’s Office.
In 2025, 11 indictments were brought against 25 people for war crimes, and all were confirmed. Kajganić stated that there is one indictment for war crimes against prisoners of war, five for war crimes against the civilian population, three for crimes against humanity and two for aiding in crimes.
He pointed out that the results are also visible through the percentage of guilty verdicts.
– In first-instance verdicts last year, 80 percent of verdicts were convictions, and in second-instance, final verdicts, 71 percent of verdicts were convictions. This is a significant percentage, bearing in mind that we are trying crimes that happened more than 30 years ago, and it is very difficult to gather evidence – he said.
Currently, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH is handling 162 cases of war crimes against known perpetrators. Of these, 76 cases against persons are available in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while in 86 cases one or more suspects are located abroad, mostly in the countries of the region.
– The key problem in the processing of these cases is cooperation with the countries of the region. We are trying to improve it through bilateral communication and cooperation with the international residual mechanism, but it is not yet going as we would like – said Kajganić.
Organized crime and evidence from the SKY and ANOM applications
Speaking about the fight against organized crime, he reminded that the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has focused on cases in which evidence from the SKY and ANOM applications were used in the last few years.
– So far, we have filed 20 indictments against 105 accused persons in which this evidence was used. Members of various police agencies in BiH – Border Police, SIPA, MUP of Republika Srpska, MUP of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton and Sarajevo Canton, one former advisor to the Minister of Security, one judge and two lawyers – said Kajganić.
In 2025, ten indictments were brought against 37 people in cases related to these applications, and the Prosecutor’s Office proposed the permanent confiscation of property benefits in the amount of almost 29 million KM, which, he said, was four times more than the year before.
He especially pointed out that the first final judgment was passed in the case in which the evidence from the SKY and ANOM applications was used.
– The court, in both the first and second instance, undisputedly concluded that it was legal evidence. That was the verdict in the Damjanović case – he stated.
Kajganić singled out the case of the murder of the head of the Prijedor Police Department, Radenko Bašić, stating that the case was fully investigated in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Srpska.
– We have identified the orderers and executors and helpers. The client was sentenced in the first instance to 29 years in prison, the executor to 34 years, and the appeal procedure is ongoing – he said.
He announced that 2026 will be the year of intensification of work on cases related to SKY and ANOM applications and that prosecutors have been redistributed in order to strengthen capacities in the field of organized crime.
Greater number of indictments for corruption
In the field of corruption, in 2025, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina received 197 reports, but only five reports on a committed criminal offense from police agencies, while none were for high level corruption.
– Regardless, with proactive work, we filed 15 indictments against 24 people, which is twice as many indictments as in 2024 – said Kajganić.
Among the most significant cases, he mentioned the indictment against the former President of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ranko Debevac, and the former director of the Intelligence and Security Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Osman Mehmedagić, as well as the case against the officer of the Directorate for Indirect Taxation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jelena Majstorović.
He also stated that in 2025, 20 persons from the Administration for Indirect Taxation and the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina were charged with corrupt activities at the border.
– In first-instance verdicts in corruption cases, we had 77 percent convictions, and in second-instance verdicts, 73 percent. A few years ago, that percentage was around 40 percent, so now we are more satisfied with those results, Kajganić said.
He also highlighted the final conviction in the case against the lawyer Vasvija Vidović.
The focus of the work in 2026, as he stated, will be the completion of investigations in the cases against the former Minister of Security Nenad Nešić and the former director of the BiH Border Police, Zoran Galić, who is on the run.
Kajganić also spoke about activities in the field of combating terrorism, stating that at the proposal of the Prosecutor’s Office, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina placed 11 citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the list of persons under increased financial supervision in order to prevent the financing of terrorism.
He added that the Prosecutor’s Office has about 30 warrants against BiH citizens who participated in war activities in Syria, as well as about 15 cases against people who joined armed formations in the war in Ukraine.
Speaking about international cooperation, he stated that the Prosecution of BiH cooperated with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in three cases based on the agreement signed in 2023 with the Chief European Prosecutor Laura Kövesi, and that BiH is also working on establishing operational cooperation with Eurojust.
Individuals were redistributed due to filling the capacities of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Speaking about the decision to transfer prosecutor Elvira Stanojlović, who acted on the report of prosecutor Džermin Pašić against Kajganić, from the Department for Corruption to the Department for Organized Crime, the chief prosecutor said that he did not dismiss anyone but redistributed.
– I did that in order to fill the capacity of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina in those matters that are currently the most important, and that is organized crime this year. In the cases in the Department for Corruption, and now there are four of them, they had or have cases related to reports filed against me. I have never doubted their integrity and cannot influence who gets which item. All the cases of those prosecutors were distributed to other prosecutors through CMS, and they assigned new cases – said Kajganić.
He added that anyone who believes that he has committed disciplinary or any other responsibility can send an anonymous or public report to the office of the disciplinary prosecutor.
Kajganić confirmed that prosecutor Jermin Pašić was temporarily assigned to the Department for War Crimes. The reason, as he stated, is the cases in which the name of prosecutor Pašić appears in the official notes, which is why, according to him, it was necessary to avoid any suspicion of bias.
(TIP/Source. Fena/Photo: Amer Kajmović)
