New Criminal procedural law of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The new criminal and criminal "procedural law" entered into force in Bosnia and Herzegovina during 2003. They consist of the "state" and "entities" law. In the field of criminal procedure the "state" law is the Law on Criminal Procedure of Bosnia and Herzegovina (which entered into force on March 1. 2003) while the "entities" laws are Law on Criminal Procedure of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Law on Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Srpska (which entered into force on July 1. 2003) and Law on Criminal Procedure of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina (which entered into force on August 1. 2003). The new laws contain great number of new, although not original procedural solutions and institutions. The most important novelty, introduced by these laws, relates to the new organization of the preliminary proceedings, which are not in the competence of the investigating judge any more but in the competence of the state prosecutor under the judicial control exercised by the judge in charge for the preliminary proceedings, or the judge in charge for preliminary hearings. The author mostly deals with this issue in this paper, but elaborates also on other important issues of the new law, and evaluates their justification and their value.