Kajganić and BiH Prosecutor's Office kept Ćulum in position, EU and US delegations continued cooperation with the destroyer of the constitutional order

By: Amra Vrabac

The BiH Prosecutor's Office is not in a position to provide the public and media with information about proceedings and activities in cases in the preliminary criminal procedure phase (application or investigation phase).

This is the response from the BiH Prosecutor's Office to multiple inquiries from Patria regarding the status of Darko Ćulum, the illegal director of the State Investigation and Protection Agency. Patria received the same response before and after the criminal complaint filed against Darko Ćulum with the BiH Prosecutor's Office on July 21. The criminal complaint was filed by state deputies Jasmin Emrić and Šemsudin Mehmedović, who also attempted through the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament to contribute to resolving Darko Ćulum's status, i.e., his final dismissal from the position he illegally usurped since July 14.

However, Emrić's conclusions lacked an entity majority from Republika Srpska. Although this was entirely expected from SNSD and its partner parties, the stance of five opposition deputies, for whom the retention of Ćulum, one of SNSD's most loyal cadres, is more important than seven hundred employees in that police agency and the protection of this country and its institutions, is surprising.

However, even worse than political games is the inaction of the BiH Prosecutor's Office, led by Chief Prosecutor Milanko Kajganić.

Since March 2025, when Ćulum began acting on the orders of the political leadership of the Republika Srpska entity, the BiH Prosecutor's Office has refused to answer whether Ćulum is also among the suspects for attacking the constitutional order, for which Milorad Dodik, Radovan Višković, and Nenad Stevandić are already suspected. After Dodik's appearance before the BiH Court, followed by Stevandić and Višković, that case seems to have been locked away in one of the drawers of the prosecuting judge, Vedrana Mijović, who remained on the case after the dissolution of the prosecutorial team.

On March 18, Darko Ćulum resigned from the position of SIPA director (his term expired in July 2024) and moved to the position of advisor in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska. Although it is unclear how he resolved his employment status, i.e., whether someone deregistered him from SIPA and registered him with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, Ćulum, after Dodik's appearance before the BiH Court, informed the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Independent Oversight Board of the BiH Parliament on July 9 that he was withdrawing his resignation and returning to the position of director. We have already said everything about the Independent Oversight Board of the BiH Parliament, and from the next term, this body should change its name to the Dependent Oversight Board.

And indeed, on July 14, Ćulum arrived at SIPA headquarters in Lukavica, took over an official vehicle, held meetings, and the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Independent Oversight Board of the BiH Parliament took no action to dismiss Ćulum. In this case as well, all the loopholes in the laws concerning the appointment and dismissal of police agency heads have been exposed.

The criminal complaint charges Ćulum with serious criminal offenses, and his actions have directly undermined the state institution he leads, the BiH Constitution, subordinated his actions to political orders, thereby grossly violating both the SIPA Law and the Law on Police Officers of BiH.

What is even more surprising is that after Ćulum's return to SIPA, there was no reaction from the EU Delegation or the US Embassy, which finance certain projects and cooperate with SIPA, as announced on SIPA's website. In response to Patria's inquiry whether cooperation with SIPA would be suspended while it is led by Ćulum, who undermined the constitutional order of BiH, we received no answer from either the EU Delegation or the US Embassy. Sometimes silence is the best answer.

Because if there is no cooperation with Dodik, and they claim he is no longer their interlocutor, why would Ćulum be an exception if he committed the same criminal offense and is an extension of Dodik's regime? If Ćulum was once willing to act on a political order and got away without any sanctions, even though he was not in office for almost four months, what will prevent him from doing so again, especially considering the activities being carried out and prepared by the authorities of the Republika Srpska entity.

In this case as well, the BiH Prosecutor's Office, as well as the judicial system, have shown that they do not act according to the laws of this country but according to domestic and foreign orders. This was first seen in Dodik's secret appearance before the BiH Court with the assistance of OSA, and then in the significant silence regarding the continuation of that process.

The BiH Prosecutor's Office could already be renamed the Prosecutor's Office for War Crimes and Petty Crime, because an attack on the state is clearly not a criminal offense worthy of Kajganić and his prosecutors' attention.