In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), we do not have political responsibility, as there is in developed democratic societies, for a minister to resign due to some minimal omission.
With these words, Vehid Sehic, a former judge and member of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of BiH, spoke about the legal procedures after the verdict against Fadil Novalic, in which he was sentenced to four years in prison for abuse of power in connection with the procurement of respirators from China during the pandemic.
“I would expect them to resign from the positions they held, that is, which they hold now. But there is no morality in politics, nor political responsibility here,” says Sehic, and emphasizes that we still need to wait for a final verdict.
In addition to Novalic, the other accused were also convicted – the suspended head of the Federation of BiH (FBiH) Civil Protection Fahrudin Solak, and the owner of the agricultural company “Srebrena Malina” Fikret Hodzic.
What happens if an official is convicted?
The Electoral Law of BiH clearly states that the mandate of an elected and appointed official ends if he is legally sentenced to a prison sentence of six months or more, explains Sehic.
Given that this is a first-time verdict and that this cannot be applied, Sehic points out that it is important to mention that in addition to criminal, there is also moral and political responsibility.
“In the West, you have criminal responsibility, you have political responsibility, you have a moral responsibility in political life. In our country, the presumption of innocence is always invoked, and it is when talking about criminal responsibility,” says Sehic and adds:
“However, we have to fight for this political responsibility to exist. I’ll just remind you, the former president of Germany, took out a loan before he was elected president, and it was suspected that his friend was a bank director, so he immediately resigned. Later in the process, it was determined that everything was done in accordance with the law, but he considered that this fact called into question the credibility and integrity of the person, and especially the function he performed. Nevertheless, in BiH, we do not have that, as the people say – he has no honor.”, Slobodna Evropa reports.
E.Dz.
