No response after 21 days: Why does the Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina hide information about intelligence officer Jozo Perić accused of crimes?

Even after 21 days, the Public Relations Office of the Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina has not provided us with answers to our inquiry about their employee and civil servant Jozo Perić, accused of war crimes in the Livno area. Such an attitude of a state institution towards the media is completely unacceptable in the context of media freedom, and therefore we are publishing the content of the email sent on January 31 to the head of the Office, Uma Sinanović, Patria reports.

Given that an indictment for war crimes has been confirmed against Jozo Perić, Head of the Security and Counterintelligence Section in the Intelligence and Security Sector of the Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for which he will be tried at the Cantonal Court in Livno, we sent the following questions to the Ministry:

1. Was Jozo Perić suspended from this position as of the date of the indictment confirmation by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina until the conclusion of the proceedings, in accordance with the Law on Civil Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina?

2. If he was not preventively suspended, can you explain why, given that this involves the criminal offense of war crimes?

3. If he was not preventively suspended, what message is being sent to the public by allowing him to continue working in these positions, knowing that Perić is accused of war crimes and performs an exceptionally complex job as Head of the Security and Counterintelligence Section?

From this Ministry, we waited seven days for an answer to the question of whether Jozo Perić is an employee and in what position.

It is indicative that they have remained silent for three weeks about Jozo Perić, who is known to have been an employee of the former State Security Service (SDB), and later also engaged as a member of the Security and Intelligence Agency of the Republic of Croatia (SOA).

The indictment against Perić was filed by the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina on December 22 last year, and the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued a decision four days later forwarding this case to the locally competent Cantonal Court in Livno.

According to unofficial information, the loyal intelligence officer of the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH), Dragan Čović, had connections to have the case immediately forwarded to the Livno court, pulled by the former long-time Minister of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, current delegate in the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bariša Čolak, and the first lady of HDZ BiH and state representative Borjana Krišto, otherwise a close friend of Perić.