Processing corruption and how to achieve more verdicts and greater trust of citizens in the work of judicial institutions – these are just some of the topics of the public discussion held in Zenica. It is a project implemented by the Office of the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 9 local communities, with the aim of strengthening citizens’ rights.
The right to justice is a project, but also a space where citizens, activists and holders of judicial functions can express needs and challenges and examples of good practice in work in order to bring more judgments in corruption cases – and achieve greater trust of citizens.
“Strengthening the rule of law in this country is of key importance for the expected reforms in order to achieve progress on the road to the European Union. The granting of candidate status last year meant recognizing the European aspirations of the citizens and it was a signal to us that we believe in the European future of this country,” said Alfredo Strippoli, head of the Department for the Rule of Law at the European Union Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
An example of good practice is the Cantonal Court in Zenica. Special attention and emphasis in the work are placed on corruption cases. The strategic work program stipulates that corruption cases must be resolved within 10 months.
“We have the human and material resources to fight it, and I think we are fighting it relatively well, but there is room for improvement. The number of indictments is greater, the number of verdicts is greater, and we have to work extremely efficiently on those cases”, points out Snježana Čolaković, president of the Zenica Cantonal Court.
On the way to the European Union, the key task of domestic authorities and judicial institutions is to strengthen the rule of law. However, in everyday life, there is very little trust of the public, citizens, and the media in the work of the judiciary. It is very important to work on transparency in the work of judicial institutions.
“In general, it’s a problem that all solutions in the judiciary are spilled over to the local community, and we don’t get input from the local level about the problems of the activists who report them – how the prosecutor’s offices and courts react and how we can all together make the HJPC work on a way to make the courts work for the benefit of citizens”, says Denis Džidić, director of BIRN BiH.
Examples from the local level are of great importance for improving the work of the judiciary, therefore this project will be continued in eight more cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
