After four years of being a judge in the national court, Ranko Debevec is now the first man of this institution. He got into the spotlight only a couple of weeks ago, after he turned out to be one of the most serious candidates for the very important position in BiH judiciary. Debevec will replace Meddžida Kreso, long-time president of the Court of BiH.
Not a Serb, not a Croat, not a Bosniak, but a member of Others, with six votes from members of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council Debevec defeated the remaining six candidates for the first position in the Court of BiH. Over the past few days, the media characterized the fight for the national court as a game of political strongmen. Debevec was not left out either. Therefore, many people called him the favorite of Milorad Dodik, and even of Fahrudin Radončić.
“I won the contest fairly. I have been chosen for my expertise, not because of my political affiliations. Although many people tried to connect me with certain parties, that never happened. No one in my family has ever been a member of any party,” Debevec said minutes after being declared the new head of the Court of BiH.
Second-ranked was the current national judge Mira Smajlović, and the third-ranked was Dalida Burzić, current chief prosecutor of the Sarajevo Canton. Although the discussion was not easy, members of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council made their final decision. President Milan Tegeltija emphasized that Debevec has been evaluated as generally the best judge of the Court of BiH in the past several years. This opinion is not shared by the SDA, who strongly oppose his appointment or appointment of any candidate who is not a Bosniak.
“It is unacceptable that there is not a single Bosniak official on the head of judicial institutions in BiH. This is the violation of the Constitution of BiH and violation of the Election Law,” claims Šefik Džaferović, member of the Presidency of SDA.
Ranko Debevec is a member of the Panel of Judges in the case of Fahrudin Radončić and others. However, his appointment as the President of the Court will not bring any changes in this convocation of the Panel of Judges.
Debevec was born in 1964 in Sarajevo. He graduated from the Faculty of Law in Sarajevo. He was an intern in the Elementary Court II in Sarajevo and in the law firm of Žarko Bulić. He has been working as an advisor and interpreter for UNPROFOR and NATO missions in BiH. He has also worked as a legal advisor for the Commission for Property Requests of Displaced Persons and refugees, the Hypo Bank, and the Public Attorney’s Office of the Centar Municipality. From 2005 until 2008 Debevec was a prosecutor in the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office Sarajevo. He was appointed the national prosecutor in April 2008. He has been working as a judge in the Court of BiH since 2012.
(Source: ba.n1info.com)
