Džidić: Criticizing the Embassy is unusual, the international community is a friend of the judiciary in BiH

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The mere fact that someone is concerned that representatives of the international community are meeting with people who have different opinions speaks volumes about the state of the judiciary.

Denis Džidić, editor of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), commented on this for the Patria agency, after the Vice-President of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH (VSTV) Ružica Jukić accused the US Embassy in BiH of interfering in the Law on VSTV.

Džidić said that there is very little discussion and confrontation of opposing opinions within the VSTV. This was most evident, he added, during the election of the Chief Prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor's Office in January this year, when the examination of candidates and the presentation of the Prosecutor's Office's work plans were done "pro forma" for the public, while almost none of the VSTV members asked any substantive questions to the candidates for this highest position in the State Prosecutor's Office.

"Representatives of the international community - including the American Embassy - have so far proven to be true friends of the judiciary, especially at the state level, and criticizing a meeting, which was publicly announced and included experts from the justice system, is unusual to say the least," Džidić believes.

US Ambassador Eric Nelson and USAID Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia Brock Bierman recently met with representatives of judicial institutions in BiH. They discussed the need to amend the Law on VSTV to enable transparent appointment of judges and prosecutors in order to strengthen the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Vice-President of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council Ružica Jukić criticized this meeting by stating that it is incomprehensible to her that any embassy would discuss the Law on VSTV of BiH.

The Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik supported Vice-President Jukić in her criticisms, after which he stated that "the international community is part of the problem in BiH."