On 27 July 2021, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), UNODC through its Global Firearms Programme conducted a workshop on information exchange on criminal procedural law applicable in firearms investigations. The workshop was attended by 10 criminal justice practitioners, including prosecutors, representatives from State Investigation and Protection Agency and Border Police, judicial police officers and members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Similarly to other meetings conducted in the Western Balkans under the regional project on Criminal Justice Response to Arms Trafficking, the methodology included presentation and review of adjudicated trafficking cases under Article 193 of the Criminal Code of BiH, including the facts of the case, the profile of the perpetrators, the type and quantity of firearms, the qualification of the offence and the indictment, the arguments before the basic court, the arguments before the appeal’s court and the arguments in the final verdict.
Finally, the participants could not reach a consensus on the application of the provision for proving “material or any other benefit” in firearms trafficking cases, as prescribed in Article 278a of the Criminal Code. They have established that the judicial practice is also not consistent on this issue and it varies depending on the type of firearms involved. In cases of a trafficking single pistol, it was accepted by courts that the prosecution could not prove a material benefit and the perpetrator was charged with illicit possession instead, whereas, in cases of trafficking of an automatic firearm, the courts have accepted the presence of material benefit and passed verdicts on illicit trafficking.
This activity is implemented with the financial contribution provided by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway through the Western Balkans SALW Control Roadmap Trust Fund and supported by the European Union.
