FIGHT FOR POSITIONS: BiH Police Officers' Appeals Committee Stuck Between Demands of "Trojka" Ministers and Staša Košarac

(Patria) - The appointment of the BiH Police Officers' Appeals Committee was removed from yesterday's session of the BiH Council of Ministers. This Committee has not existed since December 16, 2025, and after one proposal was not passed, the BiH Ministry of Security, i.e., Deputy Minister of Security Ivica Bošnjak, requested new proposals.

As confirmed to Patria from multiple sources, including from the BiH Council of Ministers session itself, the ministers from "Trojka" and Sevlid Hurtić, who falls under the Bosniak quota, found the proposal from the BiH Ministry of Civil Affairs problematic. Instead of the proposed lawyer Ada Hasečić, a new name was requested, but Minister Dubravka Bošnjak did not change her proposal.

Seven people are appointed to the Committee, with five of them required to be lawyers. Proposed from SIPA is Ljubiša Pandurević, from DKPT Alen Mujkanović, from GP BiH Bojan Petrović and Igor Kajtaz, from the Ministry of Justice Boris Jukić, from the Ministry of Security Bakir Dautbašić and the already mentioned Hasečić. Although the name of Bojan Petrović is also being problematized in some media, the BiH Ministry of Security confirmed to Patria that they have no complaints regarding this proposal.

However, besides the disagreement of the "Trojka" ministers with the proposed names, there is another obstacle in appointing the new composition of the Committee, which handles appeals of police officers regarding retirement decisions, disciplinary proceedings, promotions, etc.

Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Staša Košarac (SNSD), who is also the Deputy Chairwoman of the BiH Council of Ministers and without whom the agenda cannot be set, according to Patria's information, has stated that no item originating from the BiH Ministry of Security will be on the agenda until a competition for the director of the Agency for Forensic Examinations and Expert Witnessing is announced. The mandate of the current director, Radiša Samardžija, expired, and he was appointed in December 2020 for a four-year term.

One of the SNSD deputies in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly requested an answer from the Ministry of Security as to why the competition for director has not been announced for months. In short, the Ministry has not had time to announce this competition due to other tasks.

Competitions for the director of the Agency for Forensic Examinations and Expert Witnessing, as well as for the director of the Agency for Education and Professional Training (AEPTM), whose head is Marko Vujević, whose mandate has also expired, should be announced soon.

Given that all security agencies have long been divided along national lines, this means that candidates from the Serb or Croat communities will again be appointed as directors of these two agencies. If we consider that only candidates from one ethnic group apply for certain competitions, especially when it comes to security agencies, then there is no possibility for things to start changing or for positions in the security sector to rotate. Past examples show that a thorough reform of security agencies and key positions is needed, especially the rotation of the same people in several agencies.

Regarding the Police Support Agency, the director is Enver Hadžiahmetović (NIP), whose mandate expires in 2027.