Deputies of DF in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) condemned the intention of the Government of FBiH and HDZ BiH to, through the Law on Court Experts, place judicial processes under political control. In the statement, they note that the adoption of the law would enable the Minister of Justice from the ranks of HDZ to form a commission that would have the exclusive authority to appoint and dismiss experts in the FBiH. Their findings would be key in proceedings conducted by the Special Department for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, known as POSKOK.
The DF claims that behind the proposal stands the demand of Dragan Covic, to which, according to their words, Prime Minister Nermin Niksic agreed, after which the Government of FBiH sent the law into parliamentary procedure. The DF caucus appeals to deputies to reject the proposal at the session of the House of Representatives scheduled for September 25th, which, as they emphasize, represents a serious blow to the independence of the judiciary.
They also supported the warnings of the Chief Federal Prosecutor Munib Halilovic and the President of the Supreme Court of the Federation Vesna Stankovic–Cosovic, who, in a letter to the Ministry of Justice, Minister Vedran Skrobic, and the leaders of both parliamentary houses, pointed to the harmful consequences of the law.
According to DF’s assessment, the Coalition of the Three and HDZ want to reduce the capacity of POSKOK and prevent the prosecution of their personnel for corruption, thereby, as they claim, politicizing and privatizing the judiciary in the FBiH. On behalf of the DF caucus, the statement was signed by Mahir Mesalic.
