Investigation Commission: Certain Positive Developments Visible in the Judiciary

(Patria) - At the 25th session of the Provisional Investigation Commission of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina for determining the situation in the judicial institutions of BiH, a hearing was held with the Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton and member of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) of BiH, Berina Alihodžić, and prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH and member of the HJPC, Biljana Simeunović.

In her testimony before the members of the Provisional Investigation Commission, Alihodžić presented her view of the situation in the judicial institutions of BiH, and assessed that the current situation in the judiciary is not at a satisfactory level, but that, as she stated, certain positive developments are nevertheless visible.

As the main problem in the work of prosecutor's offices, she identified the judicial reform of 2003, after which, as she pointed out, prosecutors were assigned a dual role – both investigating judge and prosecutor, which, as she said, represented a complicating factor in the work of prosecutors.

As a problem in the work of prosecutor's offices, Ms. Alihodžić also cited the criteria for evaluating prosecutors, and in this regard, advocated for scoring prosecutors according to the volume and complexity of cases, as well as for different standardization of certain cases.

In her testimony, prosecutor Alihodžić also referred to the use of the Case Management System (CMS) in prosecutor's offices, emphasizing that it is a system that prevents manipulation in the assignment of cases, but that, as she said, she has information that this case assignment system is not used in the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.

Answering questions from Commission members about the current situation in the HJPC of BiH, prosecutor Alihodžić advocated for limiting the term of office of members of this judicial institution to four years.
In the opinion of prosecutor Alihodžić, the evident public distrust in the BiH judiciary is the result, as she emphasized, of the inefficiency of the work of certain judges and prosecutors. Therefore, as she said, adequate personnel solutions would significantly improve work results and increase public trust in the BiH judicial system.

In her testimony before the Provisional Investigation Commission, prosecutor Simeunović assessed the situation in the BiH judiciary as very poor, and stated that, in her opinion, the judicial reform in BiH of 2003 caused this situation and increased the scope of corruption in all spheres of life. She added that the said reform directly affected the deterioration of cooperation between police authorities and prosecutor's offices, and increased the negative influence of politics on the work of judicial authorities.

Regarding the use of the CMS system in the state prosecutor's office, prosecutor Simeunović said that there is an obligation to apply this automatic system, and that violation of this rule is subject to disciplinary responsibility. Prosecutor Simeunović in her testimony also referred to the procedure for filing indictments in the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, and stated that there is an instruction from the Chief Prosecutor according to which each indictment requires his initial. However, according to the words of prosecutor Simeunović, there are also guidelines from the HJPC that allow the competent prosecutor to request a written statement from the Chief Prosecutor in case he does not initial the indictment in question.

At the end of her testimony, prosecutor Simeunović advocated for the establishment of standards when appointing holders of functions in the judiciary, and opposed the employment of the closest relatives of judges and prosecutors in the judicial institutions of BiH, which, as she stated, is the main reason for the negative public perception of the judicial institutions of BiH.