Promotion at the Court, Testing at BPK Goražde Police on Christmas Eve

(Patria) - Even after 20 years of police service in Goražde, Davor Vukašinović cannot get promoted. He hasn't received enough points so far, and in his opinion, he was discriminated against on religious grounds in the last promotion competition.

-    They scheduled the testing for Christmas Eve. My colleague and I filed a complaint and asked to be allowed to take the test on another day because it is a holiday for us. The commission did not grant our complaint, and we will pursue our rights through the courts, Vukašinović told us.

Patria is in possession of the Decision made by the Police Board in Goražde regarding the complaint of Branko Pljevaljčić. This Decision rejects the complaint as unfounded because the Police Board considers that January 6th is not "designated as a holiday, nor has any decision been made by the competent authorities in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosnian-Podrinje Canton Goražde declaring January 6th a non-working day".

Among other things, the Decision argues the unfoundedness of the complaint by listing regulations:

"The unfoundedness of the complaint is also confirmed by the provisions, acting in accordance with the Law on Holidays ("Official Gazette of RBiH", No. 2/92 and 13/94), which has been adopted and is in accordance with the Constitution, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina applies as a federal law, it is determined that the international holidays celebrated in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina are: New Year's Day, May Day, and Victory over Fascism Day.
According to the Law, New Year's Day is celebrated on January 1st and 2nd. May Day - Labour Day is celebrated on May 1st and 2nd.

If one of the days on which New Year's Day and May Day are celebrated falls on a Sunday, the holiday is considered the first day after those two days.
Victory over Fascism Day is celebrated as a working day.

In addition to the holidays celebrated as state holidays in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Article 54, Paragraph (3) of the Law on Labor ("Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH", No. 26/16 and 89/18) establishes the right of employees to be absent from work for four working days during one calendar year to satisfy their religious or traditional needs, with two days of absence being paid leave and two days unpaid leave."

In an interview with Patria, Davor Vukašinović says this is his third time applying for promotion. He claims that not attending the test is not a whim.

-    I really have many obligations on Christmas Eve. Believe me, I would be easier to organize for Christmas. As people, we asked our colleagues not to schedule the test for January 6th, but there was no understanding. My experiences from previous competitions have taught me that my bosses praise me, but when it comes to materializing merits, then less capable people get priority, Vukašinović told us.

He claims that he is not interested in politics, although the promotion of police officers, as well as the announced competition for the recruitment of 20 new police officers, has become a political issue. Accusations of political interference in police work are rampant in Goražde, which is why the BPK Goražde police union also issued a public statement.

-    I don't know anything about politics. I have been doing this job honestly for 20 years. The former Minister of Police, Nijaz Musić, told me a long time ago that I lacked capacity, and I performed tasks for which I was not qualified for a long time. As an investigator, I had a 90 percent clearance rate for criminal offenses. I think it is clear to everyone what is being done if we know that the amendments to the Rulebook on Advancement have excluded physical checks, as well as additional evaluations for professional development, Vukašinović told us.

While the Police Union, whose president we have been trying to contact unsuccessfully for days, points the finger at the Government and representatives of the majority, accusations are coming from the other side that everything is being done on the orders of the aforementioned Nijaz Musić, a member of the BPK Assembly and a delegate in the House of Peoples of the FBiH. We did not get a comment from Musić, although he promised to "get back in a few minutes".

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Nirzama Rišljanin, and the Police Commissioner, Mirsad Hrapo, were not prepared to answer Patria's questions. We wanted to hear from them whether the statement of the Minister of Finance of BPK Goražde that he was "deceived" by the MUP with budget projections on the basis of which he gave consent is true. The minister previously told Patria that the funds for promotions were several times higher than planned in the budget. Suad Došlo, a member of the BPK Goražde Assembly, also had objections, believing that new expenses should not have been incurred while the Decision on Temporary Financing was in effect.

We wanted to ask the Commissioner and the Minister if it is appropriate to schedule testing on Christmas Eve, knowing that there are also candidates from the Serbian people. If so, we would like to know if they would be willing to schedule testing on the second day of Eid, because, as the police claim, that is also not a state holiday.

During his work in the police, Vukašinović told us that he almost never worked on Christmas, but that he had to request days off for absences, which were most often unpaid.