When Justice is Silent, Belgrade Speaks: Our Country, Their Prosecutor's Office

By: Amina Čorbo-Zećo

In a sovereign country, the highest judicial institution, the Prosecutor's Office, must be a pillar of justice, not an extension of someone else's politics. However, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, this has not been the case for a long time. The BiH Prosecutor's Office, instead of protecting the constitutional order and the interests of the country's citizens, has become a tool in the hands of politics coming from across the Drina River.

It has long been clear that Belgrade, or more precisely, political and security circles from Serbia, dictate the course of work of the BiH Prosecutor's Office. And that course is not justice, but political reckoning, historical revisionism, and the humiliation of victims.

Evidence? There is enough to write an indictment against the Prosecutor's Office itself.

First, through fabricated trials like the "Dobrovoljačka" case, 'Atif Dudaković and others', 'Jošanica', Čemerno, etc. The Prosecutor's Office attempts to equate the aggressor and the victim. Despite the verdicts of international courts, which identified Serbia as the aggressor and the Srebrenica massacre as genocide, the domestic judiciary disregards the facts. Orders are seemingly not issued in Sarajevo, but in Belgrade.

In this regard, the non-prosecution of genocide deniers should be viewed. Among them is Milorad Dodik, but an indictment was filed against him for disrespecting the decisions of the High Representative; there is no sign of indictments for genocide denial or undermining the constitutional order. Chief Prosecutor Milanko Kajganić, a former member of the RS Ministry of Internal Affairs, will certainly not hesitate to decide whether, after Dodik's verdict, to proceed with prosecuting those who are most rejoicing over the verdict for the president of the RS these days.

Time will tell that the 'revenge' will be served cold. However, that is a topic for another article and a story for the numerous advisors of the leaders.

And while the victims hoped for justice, a message came from the BiH Prosecutor's Office that not all crimes are the same, some are suitable for prosecution, and some must not even be named.

The infamous "A list" of the Hague Tribunal, which contained the names of hundreds of suspects for war crimes, is buried in drawers. Why? Because among those names are a number of individuals whose prosecution would shake "regional relations," meaning relations with Serbia. That's why Goran Tadić, and now Milan Kajganić, have been calculating. The fate of the A list has never been clarified.

We must not forget that the BiH Prosecutor's Office has never commented on the statement of the Chief Prosecutor of the Mechanism, Serge Brammertz, who, speaking at the UN in the context of war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, stated that a new, joint team has been formed in cooperation with the BiH Prosecutor's Office to work on investigations.

- Two months ago, we provided the Chief Prosecutor with a detailed investigative file concerning individuals suspected of heinous crimes against humanity," Brammertz said in early June.

And since then, silence. No one knows the details. Information indicates great dissatisfaction in The Hague with the work of the BiH Prosecutor's Office in war crimes cases.

Meanwhile, Serbia has become a safe haven for war criminals. Belgrade refuses to extradite numerous accused individuals, grants them citizenship and shelter, and even glorifies them. The BiH Prosecutor's Office remains silent. As if none of this is happening.

Even the incident in Potočari in 2015, when the then-Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, came to "pay tribute" to the victims of genocide and was attacked – has never been clarified. Because a real investigation would show that this "attack" was staged. However, the BiH Prosecutor's Office dares not touch that truth. Someone from Belgrade obviously said, do not touch Vučić.

And when citizens of BiH, mostly Bosniaks, are arrested at borders due to arrest warrants issued by Serbia without any legal basis, when they languish in prisons for months only to be later found innocent, the BiH Prosecutor's Office is silent again. Where are the interests of BiH citizens then? Where is the protection of sovereignty?

This is no longer just a judicial problem; this is a slow-cooked coup d'état. A captured state has captured institutions. And the most dangerous thing is when the judiciary is captured. Because then there is no longer justice or a state.

The BiH Prosecutor's Office must choose whether to be part of this country's judicial system or a branch of the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office from Belgrade. Because as long as it behaves as the latter, BiH will be neither safe, nor just, nor sovereign.