BELGRADE, 22 November 2010 - Serbian Justice Minister Snezana Malovic, today endorsed the hiring of eight support staff members who will assist judges at the Higher and Appellate Court in Belgrade in adjudicating war crimes cases as part of a project led by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and funded by the European Union.

The ODIHR-led War Crimes Justice Project aims to enhance the capacity of legal professionals in the region to handle complex war crimes cases. Malovic stressed the ministry’s commitment to work with ODIHR and the other project partners to increase the capacity of national institutions in Serbia to deal with war crimes cases.

Romana Schweiger, Regional Co-ordinator of the War Crimes Justice Project, said the need for the additional staff had been identified during the research phase preceding the project which was launched in September.

"We are pleased to see that all staff have now begun their work. The assistance they provide helps boost the capacity of the judiciary to process war crimes cases," she said.

The project is financing 20 support positions until October 2011, including 12 staff members who began working for the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor in August. The positions are fully integrated into the respective institutions.

The additional staff members are taking part in a two-day training session conducted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) that started today at the Judicial Academy in Belgrade. The training session aims to share ICTY’s institutional knowledge and specialized skills with staff from the War Crimes Prosecutor’s office, legal assistants to judges and selected professionals from various state courts who are engaged in war crimes proceedings in Serbia.

The War Crimes Justice Project is a 4-million euro regional project funded by the European Union and carried out by ODIHR in partnership with the ICTY, the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute and OSCE field operations.

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