Bećirović: Arrest of Fadil Novalić Revealed All System Anomalies

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Is the arrest of the Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fadil Novalić, a sign of a stronger fight against crime and corruption in BiH, or is it something else? Zijad Bećirović, director of the International Institute for Middle Eastern and Balkan Studies (IFIMES), speaks on this question for Patria.

“We announced the arrest of Prime Minister Novalić in an analysis we published a few days ago, and that further affairs and attacks on him would be produced to force his resignation, so that Jelka Miličević (HDZ BiH) becomes acting Prime Minister, and Marinko Čavara (HDZ BiH) remains President of the Federation, who blocks all processes, and thus take control of the Federation of BiH and plunder the remaining resources. This is a sign of the beginning of the end of a perverse judicial-police system, and it is ‘good’ that they detained the Prime Minister of the Federation of BiH, Novalić, to show how politicized the said system is.

By the logic of that system, then the entire Federal Government is responsible, with all ministers who directly participated in the thematic government session when the procurement of equipment was discussed. All ministers are accomplices in the procurement of medical equipment throughout the Federation of BiH, because they did not adopt urgent adequate conclusions on how and in what way to resolve the urgency of procurement, not only in this case, and the entire government should, by the logic of the BiH Prosecutor's Office and SIPA, be suspected, brought in, or politically resign. Obviously, they are trying to prove the responsibility of Prime Minister Novalić ‘bit by bit,’ and what they are doing does not represent any fight against crime and corruption, but a very poorly directed political show that two solid and objective prosecutors and investigators could resolve in a few days, as well as all affairs in BiH,” says Bećirović.

He added that one should recall how long the BiH Prosecutor's Office ‘begged’ Milorad Dodik to deign to give a statement regarding the illegal referendum, when he directly threatened the constitutional and legal order, and when everyone ‘breathed a sigh of relief’ when he finally appeared at the BiH Prosecutor's Office and was then declared innocent.

“I would like to see someone try to confiscate the mobile phone of Željka Cvijanović and detain her in custody. That couldn't even be attempted, because it will never happen. Such a system suits no one except those who manage it and absolutely control it, and those are Milorad Dodik (SNSD) and Dragan Čović (HDZ BiH).

The arrest of Fadil Novalić revealed all the anomalies of the system; in Bosnia and Herzegovina, instead of arresting criminals, they arrest those who are not. In all of this, there are also ‘fingers’ of certain members of the Presidency of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA). At this moment, the most important thing is that Prime Minister Fadil Novalić does not succumb to those political-mafia structures that staged all this for him, and that the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina react, because everything is happening before their eyes. The inevitable question arises: if the Chief Prosecutor of BiH, Gordana Tadić, avoids arresting the key bearers of crime and corruption, the question arises of how to arrest the Chief Prosecutor. Then BiH would have at least a glimmer of hope to begin a genuine fight against crime and corruption. The Reinhard Priebe report for North Macedonia opened the possibility of prosecuting judges and prosecutors, and this must finally begin in BiH,” added Bećirović.