Who made the mistake: FMUP certified the killer of Tarik Prusac, they were obliged to supervise him

The Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs had the exclusive obligation to supervise the work of the security agency SEC ONE, whose employee Tarik Prusac killed his wife Elma Godinjak-Prusac with shots from a service pistol on May 1st. According to the Law on Agencies and Internal Services for the Protection of People and Property, the FMUP is responsible for issuing permits for agencies, issuing certificates to security guards, and administrative supervision of agency operations.

Tarik Prusac held a Certificate for performing physical security tasks issued by the Police Academy of the FMUP. Possessing this certificate also means that the person is trained and verified to carry firearms – therefore, they do not need a special permit to carry weapons from the cantonal MUP, i.e., the competent Police Administration. After receiving the security guard certificate from the Police Academy of the FMUP, Prusac was issued a pistol owned by the SEC ONE agency, with which he committed the murder on May 1st. This brutal crime was preceded by a series of oversights by both the security agency itself and the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs as the competent supervisory body.

– Agencies are obliged to organize periodic checks of weapon handling skills and checks of the health and psychophysical fitness of their employees. The Federal Minister of Internal Affairs shall prescribe the method of organizing periodic checks of weapon handling skills and checks of the health and psychophysical fitness of agency employees – states Article 25 of the Law on Agencies and Internal Services for the Protection of People and Property.

Tarik Prusac worked as a security guard in a bank in Sarajevo. Article 26 of the Law stipulates that “physical security tasks for cash vaults, escorting, securing the transport of money and the transport of money, securities, and valuables,” etc., can only be performed by agencies or internal security services that have a special permit from the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Inspection supervision over security agencies, according to the law, is carried out by the Federal Ministry and cantonal ministries of internal affairs – but with one important difference.

– The Federal Ministry conducts inspection supervision over security tasks from Article 26 of this law and for legal entities from Article 37 of this law in whose capital structure the Federation has an ownership stake. Cantonal ministries of internal affairs conduct inspection supervision according to the seat of the agency or branch registered in the court register and according to the seat of legal entities that have established a security service – the Law stipulates.

This means that supervision over the work of security guards who secure banks – from Article 26 of the Law – falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the FMUP.

The Minister of Internal Affairs of KS, Admir Katica, stated at today's session of the KS Assembly that the cantonal MUP is responsible for checking the number of weapons owned by agencies, and the maximum number of weapons can be half the total number of employees, and he emphasized that in this case, because it concerns a bank, the FMUP had jurisdiction.

At the hearing to determine custody for Tarik Prusac at the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo, the prosecutor stated that Prusac was finally convicted in 2016 for beating his mother and brother. One of the conditions for obtaining a security guard certificate is “that no criminal proceedings are pending against the person, that they have not been convicted of a criminal offense for which a prison sentence has been imposed, except for criminal offenses against public traffic safety, or that they have not been found responsible for a misdemeanor against public order and peace with elements of violence.” Prusac most likely received a suspended sentence for the 2016 domestic violence case, and it is possible that he sought to have the verdict expunged from the records, given that he stated at the hearing that he had never been convicted. Therefore, according to Article 16 of the Law we cited, there were no legal obstacles for a person with a conviction for violent behavior to obtain a certificate for performing security tasks and thus for carrying weapons.

As Istraga has already reported, Tarik Prusac was supposed to return his weapon to the Agency immediately after finishing his shift, but he did not. The security agency SEC ONE reported the theft of the pistol to the police only a day later, after it was reported in the media that their employee had committed a murder. For this fatal oversight, according to the Law, the Agency will be "severely" punished – with a fine of 500 KM.

The federal Minister of Internal Affairs, Ramo Isak, also admitted that the legal framework regulating the work of security agencies in the Federation is full of shortcomings. As early as June 2023, he announced that the FMUP would prepare a new law on agencies and internal security services, given, as he said, “that the existing Law is outdated.” Three years later, this new law is still awaited. In the meantime, the medical examinations that security guards are obliged to undergo every two years at one of the accredited institutions, which determine their psychophysical fitness for the job, are mostly just a mere formality – a few signatures and a stamp on a certificate. Inspection supervision of agencies and checks of candidates applying for certificates are irregular and superficial, and firearms are given into the hands of convicted violent offenders.