Radio-television of Bosnia and Herzegovina warned against, as it states, RTRS’s attempts to selectively present court proceedings and financial relations between two public broadcasters to create the image that court proceedings are conducted solely to the detriment of RTRS. BHRT therefore requests an urgent response from the competent institutions, primarily the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH and the Office of the High Representative.
The BHRT states that, instead of conducting proceedings smoothly and legally, the judges in Banja Luka face public pressure, political labeling and threats from officials and the media under the control of the authorities in Republika Srpska.
The BHRT asked the HJPC to urgently form a working group or commission that would examine specific pressures on judges in cases between the BHRT and the RTRS and provide them with legal, professional and institutional protection.
They also request that the HJPC, in cooperation with the competent police authorities, assess the safety of the judges who act in these cases, as well as their family members, and that, if necessary, provide physical protection.
BHRT asks the high representative in BiH to use his powers to react to political officials who, as they claim, violate the principles of the independence of the judiciary and publicly target holders of judicial functions.
BHRT believes that media and political pressures are turning the judiciary into a target for political confrontations.
“It is certainly completely unacceptable for a public media to put pressure specifically on a judge in such a way, to try to compromise him and to point to him as a person who somehow wants 600 or so families to be left without money, without survival. So, a classic media manipulation and substitution of theses,” said Branko Todorović from the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Todorović added that such an approach, in his opinion, has been used in the RTRS for a long time, but he pointed out that the reaction of the Banja Luka judiciary is encouraging.
BHRT also sent a complaint to the Regulatory Agency for Communications of BiH due to, as they say, disputed contributions from RTRS. The complaint indicates an alleged violation of the Code on Audiovisual Media Services and Radio Media Services.
The BHRT claim that in the disputed contents there was direct pressure on the judiciary and the appointed judge, attempts to influence the outcome of active court proceedings, but also incitement of inter-entity intolerance and division.
Borka Rudić from the Association of BH Journalists assessed that, in her opinion, RTRS violates the conditions under which it received its broadcasting license.
“They didn’t even react to the fact that RTRS violates the terms of the license because they got the license to broadcast on the condition that they respect the law and the code and the professional standards of journalism and that they respect the technical conditions. They don’t respect any of these, therefore they also violate the conditions of obtaining the license,” said Rudić.
In the meantime, the HJPC of Bosnia and Herzegovina also announced. They called on political and media actors to stop trying to influence the outcome of court proceedings by discrediting the holders of judicial functions.
The HJPC reminds that judges make decisions independently and impartially, based on the law, facts and evidence presented in the proceedings, and says that attempts to pressure the court or an individual judge will not affect court decisions.
The HJPC additionally warned that political and media attacks on judges, as well as the use of certain media to exert pressure, represent a direct violation of the fundamental principles of the Constitution of BiH.
The Office of the High Representative also reacted to the question about protecting the independence of the judiciary. OHR said that the independence of the judiciary is one of the basic principles of the rule of law.
“Judges must be enabled to perform their duties independently, impartially and without political pressure, intimidation or public attacks,” stated the OHR.
They particularly emphasized the responsibility of public office holders to respect these principles and refrain from actions and statements that could threaten the independence and integrity of judicial proceedings.
OHR expects all competent institutions and public officials to respect court decisions and the principle of judicial independence.
In the end, BHRT requests an urgent reaction from the competent institutions regarding the views of the state ombudsman Nevenk Vranješ, who previously stated that the court should take into account the interests of RTRS employees and that there is no media pressure on the judiciary.
The whole case thus grew into a dispute between two public broadcasters and opened up a broader issue of the relationship between politics, the media and the judiciary, and the reactions of the HJPC and OHR show that pressure on judges and attempts to influence court proceedings are considered a serious issue for the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
