Bosnian Security Leaders Under Criminal Charges, Citizens at Risk!

The destabilization of Bosnia and Herzegovina, following planned unrest that began two weeks ago, has revealed the deep vulnerability of the security apparatus, the compromised position of its leaders, and its inability to ensure peace and security for citizens, according to an analysis submitted to the international community, the Bosnian news agency Patria (NAP) learns from reliable sources.  

The Center for Security Studies (CSS), as NAP reported, warned Bosnian authorities about shortcomings in the entire system as early as 15 months ago, but recent events have also shown that the personnel leading law enforcement agencies and relevant ministries lack the credibility to respond in crisis situations.

The system is overly complex, there is no coordination, and when combined with the fact that there is no adequate leadership, it can happen that a group of several dozen hooligans sets fire to the building of the state Presidency and several cantonal governments!

Namely, certain circles within the international community, as well as within Bosnian political structures, warn that all police chiefs, including the highest-ranking ones, Goran Zubac, director of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), Dragan Lukač, head of the Federal Police Administration (FUP), and even their political bosses such as the Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina Fahrudin Radončić, are burdened by active criminal charges.

- There is no high-ranking police officer against whom a criminal charge has not been filed. They report each other, and such a position harms the functioning of the security apparatus – an anonymous diplomatic source warns for NAP.

As we learn, these facts are particularly concerning, and this was presented in the analysis submitted to relevant stakeholders, because BiH, as a complex political structure, must rest on a solid internal security apparatus and uncompromising individuals who adhere to the law and are in no way compromised or blackmailed by criminal charges.

CSS Director Denis Hadžović tells NAP that the fact that most officials, both political and police, are burdened by criminal charges certainly does not help Bosnian security.

- It certainly does not help when they are personally pitted against each other. And, systemically, everything is not set up properly, so each one has the discretionary right to either support or not support the other. Then it comes down to personal or political solutions, because there is no institutional stability and it is not clear who answers to whom – says Hadžović.