After almost seven years at Guantanamo Bay, detention center in the United States of America, three Bosnian citizens have returned to Sarajevo after US government had failed to find arguments for holding five of the six men known as the “Algerian Group.” However, the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina still has an unclear standpoint regarding its returned citizens.
Srdjan Dizdarevic, president of Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in B&H, was a guest yesterday in a local TV station where he was responding to questions regarding human rights violations in the case of „Algerian group“. He pointed out a realistic danger that perpetrators in this case, who illegaly conducted deportation of six Bosnian citizens to US, will not be prosecuted. Dizdarevic said that there is a possibility that this case of violation of fundamental human rights in B&H will be neglected, that it will fade out with time and become thus, unreachable for the concept of justice.
„It is established here that we are talking about violations of human rights and the guilt must be therefore, individualized. I remind you that we already have come to the point where certain parts of the case, regarding giving away citizenship, are already outdated. It is also established that citizenships were given away illegaly, against the law, but the government officials that were giving them, still do not respond to this“, said Dizdarevic explaining that in B&H it is apparent that one can do a criminal act and yet not be prosecuted for it.
According to Dizdarevic it seems that in the end, in the case of Algeria group, state will be the one who is guilty, and not the individual. Since „those who lead this country know that the cases brought up in front of Strasbourg court last for seven years“.
„Government officials in B&H believe that they will not be in on their positions of premiers and ministers in those seven years, so they continue to violate human rights recklessly“, said Dizdarevic.
The state of B&H must help people that have been returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina, since at the moment they have nothing, no rights, no employment, no means to support themselves and their families. The Council of Ministries of B&H should find mechanisms through which they will bring back the rights to people that the country of BH has violated.
„In every normal country returning the rights to victims of human rights violations would go by automatism, but in B&H, Algerian group will need help of lawyers and few nongovernmental organizations to achieve that“, concluded Dizdarevic.
