Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Serbo-Croatian: Sud Bosne i Hercegovine, Cyrillic script: Суд Босне и Херцеговине; abbreviated as the Court of BiH in English) is a domestic court of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina which includes international judges and prosecutors. It was established on 3 July 2002 by the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Law on the Court of BiH and promulgated on 12 November 2000 by the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is based in Sarajevo (88 Kraljice Jelene street) was necessary to provide for judicial protection in the matters that under the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina fall under the jurisdiction of the Court of BiH, such as fight against terrorism, war crimes, human trafficking, organized and economic crimes. Also, with the aim of establishing the rule of law, it is important to underline the role of the Court of BiH, which will also work on the harmonization of standards in court proceedings.

The Court is a judicial body which does not have a time-limited mandate. Unlike the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia whose work is regulated by the Statute issued by the UN Security Council and the Rulebook adopted by the ICTY judges, the Court of BiH hands down verdicts in accordance with the laws of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, such as the BiH Criminal Code and the BiH Criminal Procedure Code. Besides the fact that the international judges and prosecutors work at the Court of BiH and the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, the key functions are held by the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Trials are conducted in one of the official languages of BiH in accordance with the national laws, while the convicted persons serve their time in prisons in BiH.