Who Produced Josip Šimić?

The Municipal Court in Sarajevo on Friday morning ordered a one-month detention for young Josip Šimić from Kreševo, who appeared in the Bosnian public space out of nowhere, like a bolt from the blue, on suspicion that while at large he could conceal evidence and influence witnesses or accomplices.

Until just a year ago, Šimić seemed like someone who would awaken a multitude of disenfranchised Bosnian citizens to start fighting for their rights, which the authorities had usurped down to the last particle. His quotes from the Bible that the political elites would pay back every mark they immorally took from the public budget were received with great enthusiasm. Openly by Bosniaks and Serbs, somewhat more timidly by Croats.

As a theologian, Šimić criticized HDZ leader Dragan Čović for the downfall of the Croatian people in BiH, as if from his sleeve. In an interview with the media, he said he was not interested in politicians from the other two constituent peoples in BiH. He fights for justice for his own ethnic group. In one media appearance, he revealed that out of concern for Bosnian Croats, he even wrote to the Pope himself in the Vatican.

And then things got out of control. The Šimić case sparked a serious war between the state Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dragan Mektić, and the acting chief state prosecutor, Gordana Tadić. Šimić submitted to the BiH Prosecutor's Office alleged evidence of the wiretapping of Tadić and VSTV member Ružica Jukić. Tadić and Jukić, Šimić tried to say, were wiretapped from SIPA, and Minister Mektić knew about it, or worse, ordered it. Such claims were denied by the State Investigation and Protection Agency immediately.

Nothing is known about Šimić, or very little is known. The young man born in Kreševo first introduced himself as Josip Šimić, and a few weeks before he was arrested, exclusively as Josip Šimić Đinđić. When he appeared in the Bosnian public at the end of 2015, he was a theologian, later a political scientist, and finally a journalist and whistleblower.

It is unclear where a young man like him got the documents he submitted to the BiH Prosecutor's Office. In the general chaos caused by Šimić, no one even asked that. Forged or not, these are volumes of paper that allegedly reveal Sarajevo murders, the connection of Bosnian politicians with drug cartels; Šimić also offered answers for political murders that the Bosnian judiciary has not solved for more than two decades. He always referred to sources from intelligence agencies, but did not name those agencies.

Professor at the Faculty of Criminalistics, Criminology and Security Studies in Sarajevo, Dr. Goran Kovačević, believes that the thesis that Šimić was produced precisely by someone from the highest political echelons of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in order to settle scores with political dissidents using his reports, should not be ruled out. It is completely incredible with what ease Šimić gained access to former President of the BiH Court Meddžida Kreso or state prosecutor Gordana Tadić. The journalists' association also stood up for his protection.

„SIPA, led by Perica Stanić, based on a dispatch from Mektić, in cooperation with the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton, headed by Dalida Burzić, is planning a judicial coup,“ wrote Šimić on his Facebook profile on August 30.

Journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina publish documents about illegal actions in BiH on a daily basis. Almost never, or very rarely, does the Prosecutor's Office form cases based on credible media reports. Šimić managed to do this very easily.

State Security Minister Mektić, against whom Šimić also filed a report with the BiH Prosecutor's Office, holds a similar opinion to Professor Kovačević. He believes that Šimić is less important than the fact that the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina got involved in a game with him. Chief state prosecutor Gordana Tadić personally requested from SIPA the cessation of all activities related to Šimić.

„The BiH Prosecutor's Office is trying to hide the entire development of the situation surrounding this affair. I said it cannot end there. This has caused greater unrest among citizens in BiH and the creation of distrust in the judicial and security institutions," Mektić believes.

"I think this cannot end with the responsibility of Josip Šimić, but that all responsible persons who participated in the conception, planning and realization of such a serious judicial affair will have to bear responsibility," Mektić concluded.

Šimić is currently in custody on charges of forging SIPA documents and reporting the state security minister to the Prosecutor's Office. His defense will try to prove that Šimić was just a bypass between his sources and the Prosecutor's Office. However, the outcome of the entire case can already be guessed. On Friday, the media published the news that two former employees of the Service for Foreigners' Affairs, Boris Kordić and Josip Kvesić, who allegedly provided Šimić with forged documentation about the wiretapping of Tadić and Jukić, had left the country?! (A. Aljović)