The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, after being asked by numerous journalists whether they requested the hearing of the president of the Republika Srpska and the director of the Official Gazette of that entity, replied that they do not plan to reveal any information about the case. Because of such answers, many doubt that they even work.
While more advanced societies discuss what modern life and digitization can bring to the judiciary and prosecutors’ offices, how they can implement artificial intelligence in their work and similar problems of today, in our state prosecutor’s office they are struggling to fulfill their basic function – prosecuting criminal offenses.
They also recognized this in the Republika Srpska, so the authorities in this entity break the laws without fear of punishment. Proof of this is today’s statement by the acting director of the Official Gazette of the RS, Miloš Lukić, who a few days ago violated the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina by publishing the annulled laws.
“I’m not a lawyer, but as far as I know those processes, it’s a long shot,” Lukić said, commenting on the allegations about the case being handled by the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding non-compliance with the decisions of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
By the way, Christian Schmidt recently annulled the laws passed by the NSRS on non-compliance with the decisions of the High Representative and the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and amended the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina so that attacks on the constitutional order of the state could be properly prosecuted. Although this made the work of the BiH Prosecutor’s Office easier, legal experts were pessimistic about the potential efficiency of that institution.
A few days after Schmidt brought changes to the Criminal Code, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina reported that they had opened a case regarding the publication of disputed laws in the Official Gazette of the RS, but since then there has been silence in Kraljice Jelene Street at number 88 in Sarajevo.
Journalist Slobodan Vasković announced on his blog today that an investigation has been launched against Miloš Lukić and Milorad Dodik and that they have been summoned for questioning. The confirmation of this information was of interest to almost all media outlets in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the Prosecution received a rather curt response and useless information.
“The case is ongoing and the prosecution will not comment individually on each procedural action undertaken by the prosecution team,” it was stated.
However, when we take into account numerous cases of law violations that have not been prosecuted in the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, especially when it comes to denial of genocide, glorification of war criminals, spreading hatred and attacks on the constitutional order, the public is rightly afraid that this case will also “take up” time.
If it is also assumed that the case may be in operation for the next 10 years before a prosecutor’s decision is made, the question arises whether prosecutors have the right to hide from the public whether they are really working or not?
Let’s imagine that we are in a European country where the judiciary functions perfectly. At the moment of the greatest crisis, such as an attack on the constitutional order of the state, everyone would be focused on solving the problem and calming the public. At the very least, an urgent press conference would be organized to convince the public that they have all the strings in their hands, however, the prosecutor’s team in BiH decides not to inform the public about the prosecutor’s decisions. Why?!
This case was assigned to three plaintiffs, one of whom soon went on sick leave, and another plaintiff came in her place. There are still three people in the team, but they clearly lack the courage to face the public, as well as political actors in the RS.
The Director of the Official Gazette said that he has not yet been summoned to the hearing despite contrary information, but states that the investigation has been initiated. This is the closest to official information that the public has received on this case, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
