”In recent years, the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) judicial system has been at the top of the list of corruption. This has been contributed to by several criminal proceedings against judges and prosecutors, controversial appointments, and several judicial scandals. Criminal proceedings have been instituted against several judges and prosecutors in recent years, and several have been relieved of their duties,” it is said in the analysis of the International Institute for the Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES), whose author is the judge of the Court of BiH Branko Peric.
Peric added that the incriminations related to judges and prosecutors are mainly connected to abuse of office and violation of the law by a judge in order to obtain property or some other benefit for himself or others.
Influence on the selection and appointment of prosecutors and judges
”Among the scandals that caused the most public attention and that affected the negative perception of the public were the case of “Potkivanje” in which the President of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) of BiH was involved and the case of a judge of the Municipal Court in Sarajevo, who is suspected of violating the law in order to obtain property for another, and who fled BiH during the investigation (a warrant was issued for that person). The “Potkivanje” affair produced a series of dubious procedures in the HJPC regarding the responsibility of the HJPC president,” Peric pointed out and added that there have been no efficient trials that could restore public confidence in the judiciary.
Peric emphasizes that politicians have always had an interest in influencing and controlling the judiciary. They did so, he says, through police services under their direct control and through the selection and appointment of judicial officeholders.
”When politics lost the ability to influence the selection and appointment of prosecutors and judges, that interest became more pronounced. Several investigations and court proceedings have been conducted before the Prosecutor’s Office and the Court of BiH against high-ranking politicians. Most of them ended in acquittals. Some of them have been sentenced by the Court of BiH to suspended sentences for criminal offenses within the jurisdiction of the entities (unscrupulous work in the service!). Such cases had a special priority in the trial. In some, the political background of the prosecution was indeed visible. All this created the public’s belief that politics has a strong influence on the judiciary,” the analysis pointed out.
A successful operation to destroy the judiciary
Peric added that it is interesting that disciplinary proceedings were conducted against both the Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH and the President of the Court of BiH, the Chief Prosecutor was relieved of her duties and the President of the Court of BiH was acquitted.
He told that it can be concluded that the ruling politics carried out a successful operation to destroy the judiciary from within, using the weaknesses of the concept of an independent regulator.
”The operation was limited to corrupting individuals and interest groups within the HJPC with the aim of bringing close holders of judicial functions to political positions. Today, there is no doubt that the President of the HJPC, Milan Tegeltija, has been implementing a political project of internal undermining of the judicial system and the institution of the HJPC for six years,” he explained.
