HDZ and SNSD Block Work of Investigative Committee on Judiciary

SARAJevo, (Patria) - According to the response received by MP in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH Damir Arnaut from HDZ Secretary of that House Marin Vukoja, HDZ and SNSD have decided to block the work of the Investigative Committee on the situation in the judiciary, and thus the decision of the House by which that committee was established.

Vukoja refuses to convene the constituent session of the Investigative Committee because HDZ and SNSD have not appointed members to it, claiming that the Rules of Procedure stipulate that the structure of members of each specific committee, including this one, must be proportional to the size of the Deputies' Clubs.

"However, the Rules of Procedure stipulate proportionality exclusively in terms of the total number of members in all committees of the House. Vukoja's reference to the same article of the Rules of Procedure that Kriš to invoked nine months ago, but with a completely opposite interpretation, shows the complete lack of principles of HDZ and the party's approach to legal issues based on the principle 'the legal norm is what suits us at a given moment'.

What's more, given that there are as many as nine parliamentary clubs of different sizes operating in the House, it is clear that proportionality cannot be achieved in each individual committee, but only through the total number of members of all committees.

This is confirmed by the composition of all previous committees, both standing and especially temporary. For example, the Investigative Committee for determining the expenditure of funds of the Export-Credit Agency of BiH had two members from SDA, one each from HDZ, SNSD and DF, and Zaim Backović who did not even have a parliamentary club, out of a total of 6 members, and not a single member from the SDS, SBB, or SDP clubs. The situation is identical with all other committees," states Arnaut.

Given that Vukoja's interpretation is unprecedented in the 23 years of the House of Representatives' existence, it is clear that this is obstruction whose sole purpose is to prevent the work of the Investigative Committee established by that House and whose establishment was welcomed by the US Embassy and the OSCE Mission. In normal circumstances, such obstruction would become the subject of an investigation by the competent prosecutor's office. In circumstances where the establishment of a parliamentary investigative committee for the situation in the judiciary is necessary at all, this abuse will likely go unpunished.

Given that Denis Zvizdić, the Bosniak member of the Collegium who was elected to that position with fewer Bosniak votes than Nermin Nikšić, is unable to cope with these attacks on the competencies of the House he presides over due to being outvoted by HDZ and SNSD, it is necessary for the House itself to reclaim the competencies that Kriš to, Radmanović and Vukoja are trying to take away from it as soon as possible, Arnaut concludes.