Today we went to the war crimes court and met with American
judge, Philip Weiner. All current war crimes that occurred during the Bosnian
War are now tried in Sarajevo and not in the Hague. There are 43 national and 5
international judges in Bosnia.
Interestingly enough there is no mandated time limit for
trials, which can be very frustrating and delays the much-needed justice of
heinous war crimes. For example, a current case against 4 men for war crimes in
the town of Srebenica began in 2010 and is still going on.
The most common trials that Judge Weiner views are war
crimes, organized crime, economic crime and corruption cases.
The judge was very accommodating to our questions and was
able to discuss some of his frustrations with the judicial system and the
politics within the country. He admits that there is a lot of corruption in
this city and spoke about how even in schools it is very common to pay teachers
for good grades and EVEN to have sex in trade for good grades. The judge told
us about one instance in which he read a job posting for a medical position and
it clearly stated that in order to get the job, the applicant would have to pay
24,000km which is close to $20,000. This comes as such a shock to all of us but
this has been going on for so long that it is second nature and no one has
stood up or been effective in saying that it’s wrong.
We left the war crimes court and returned to our hotel to
process how we felt afterwards and then some of us ventured through town and
did some shopping. There is an underground marketplace that has knockoff
sunglasses and handbags galore and handmade scarves. It reminded me of the
underground shopping places in Brussels with all of these unique vendors. Of
course, I bought 2 pairs of sunglasses and a new handbag (the first of what I
think will be many to come).
Still jetlagged but doing ok. Tomorrow we are going to a town outside of the city called Mostar.
One of the views from the veranda at our hotel
At the war crimes court
At the war crimes court
Just a small view of the copper street. It's funny how we steal copper from houses and it's worth so
much when it's worth practically nothing here!
View of Sarajevo from one of the forts
Dinner at the Spite House. From left to right Me, Dasha, Heidi, Rhonda, Julie, and Ann
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