The trip of Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska, and Nenad Stevandić, Speaker of the Entity Parliament, to Moscow, despite the fact that both are on the central warrant of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has once again opened the question of the functionality and selectivity of domestic institutions. While the laws prescribe one thing, practice repeatedly shows another – that the powerful are allowed everything, while the rule of law stands aside, BHRT writes.
Dodik, like several times before, crossed the border without hindrance and arrived in Russia on the occasion of Victory Day. He himself confirmed that the trip was not easy, but not because of problems with the BiH Border Police, but because of the canceled flight from Belgrade. In a statement to the media, he clearly states that “no one could stop him” even though he is formally on the warrant that all police agencies are obliged to respect. In addition to him, Stevandić also arrived in Moscow, also on the warrant. Both left the country without any obstacles.
Director of the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of BiH Enes Karić admitted in an uncertain and vague answer that he does not know what the Border Police specifically does, but states that it is within their jurisdiction. Neither the Director of the Border Police Mirko Kuprešaković nor the competent judicial institutions were available for comment today. Kuprešaković had previously announced an internal investigation into the crossing of the border by these officials, but the results of that investigation are not yet known.
In the whole case, it is not clear not only how the institutions function – if they function at all – but also who does their job in them. Journalist Dragan Maksimović ironically concludes that only the Indirect Taxation Administration functions in BiH, because “that is where the money is” – and the interest of the political elites. Transparency International BiH, which has been working on judicial reform for years, reminds us that last year in four cantons and the Brčko District, not a single indictment for high-level corruption was filed. Damjan Ožegović from this organization says that laws do not apply equally to everyone – those in power control processes, while ordinary citizens do not know what awaits them tomorrow.
The Court of BiH previously ordered detention and issued arrest warrants for Dodik, Višković and Stevandić for refusing to respond to summonses from the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH in connection with an investigation into the threat to the constitutional order of the country. However, practice shows that these arrest warrants are not an obstacle to international travel, so the conclusion is increasingly being imposed that the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina act only when the interests of political elites are threatened, and not when citizens and the legal order are threatened.
