Column by Judge Perić: Luigi, Halil, and Debevec!

Written for Istraga.ba: Judge Branko Perić

I cannot begin an account of the lawlessness of those called upon to ensure legality and the rule of law without reminding the reader of the wisdom of one of the most famous ancient historians, the Roman jurist Publius Cornelius Tacitus, who wrote: "Just as we have suffered from crimes, so now we suffer from laws" (Annals, III 25 M). We have reached a state of complete lawlessness and social injustice. The terror of lawlessness has led society into a state of hopelessness and spiritual suffering. One wonders if what we are seeing is possible and where it is leading!

Here is one in a series of examples of legal and judicial self-destruction.

The criminal proceedings against the President of the Court of BiH, Ranko Debevec, are, by all accounts, turning into a new criminal and scandalous case! Recently, the now former president of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) of BiH, Halil Lagumdžija, stated, and "Dnevni avaz" reported on December 18, 2024, that no disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against President Debevec, who was suspended a year ago, because no disciplinary complaint has been filed!

Is that possible? Was the president joking? Did the Disciplinary Prosecutor's Office (DPO) not issue a decision on Debevec's suspension after the investigation was opened? Surely the DPO acts ex officio if it becomes aware that a judicial office holder has committed a disciplinary offense?

If the president was suspended for abuse of official position, then proceedings for his dismissal should have been initiated immediately. Did not all media outlets report, on several occasions, that the president issued orders for the destruction of official files, wiretapped administrative staff, and harassed and secretly monitored some of them?

For God's sake, what is going on here? The other day, the DPO initiated dismissal proceedings against the Chief Prosecutor of the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Bijeljina, Olga Pantić, for several disciplinary offenses, including the unlawful conclusion of two plea agreements. The prosecutor, it seems, could simultaneously face criminal proceedings on suspicion of committing the criminal offense of Violation of the Law by a Judge or Prosecutor from Article 346 of the Criminal Code of the RS. Why was the same procedure not followed for the President of the Court of BiH, Ranko Debevec?

Judicial crime has become normality

Halil Lagumdžija's statement that no disciplinary complaint has been filed against Debevec is simply scandalous! It is incomprehensible that it went completely unnoticed in the media. Judicial crime has clearly become social normality.

Does Halil Lagumdžija know what the DPO is doing and how? Do the members of the HJPC know how disciplinary prosecutors must act when they become aware that a disciplinary offense has been committed? Why is everyone silent about the crimes and amorality of the President of the Court of BiH? Who has such power to suspend the legality in the work of an independent institution and the common sense of the people managing the judiciary?

The case of President Debevec has completely exposed the collapse of the judicial system and revealed that its regulator (HJPC) is the center of judicial crime and its metastases. Until yesterday, no one could have imagined, and today it will be difficult to believe, that an independent judicial body violates the law and covers up the obvious crime and unsuitability of the President of the Court of BiH.

According to the Law on the HJPC (Articles 76 and 77), proceedings for the dismissal of President Debevec should have been initiated immediately after his detention was ordered. The condition for ordering detention is the existence of a well-founded suspicion that a criminal offense has been committed for which he is unfit. The evidence that the prosecutor had when submitting the proposal for detention was of such significance and weight and so obvious that it constituted a legal basis for dismissal.

Criminal proceedings have no impact on disciplinary proceedings when it comes to the criminal offenses attributed to the president. His unsuitability to perform judicial duties arises from the material evidence based on which the investigation was opened, as well as from the testimony of witnesses who were heard during the investigation (and who would also be heard in disciplinary proceedings).

On what grounds is President Ranko Debevec still a judge? On what grounds has he been receiving his full presidential salary for a year? The state of BiH has allocated more than one hundred thousand KM for the salary and contributions of the suspended president during this year. Until when will the state pay the salary of an unworthy judge and president? Probably for the next ten years, which is how long the criminal proceedings will be dragged out, as has been done in several similar cases!? (I would bet that the case will unfold like that!)

Why did Lagumdžija mislead the public?

With his statement, Halil Lagumdžija misled the public, concealed legal facts, and presented the public with the thesis that no disciplinary complaint was filed against the president? Who was supposed to file a disciplinary complaint against President Debevec? Why has no criminal proceedings been initiated against the person who was supposed to file it for the obvious criminal offense of abuse of position?

Lagumdžija knows that the DPO is legally obliged to initiate disciplinary proceedings upon becoming aware, in any way, that a judicial office holder has committed a disciplinary offense. And the DPO has done so countless times. In Debevec's case, the DPO became aware of this when the investigation against Debevec was initiated, at which time the decision on his suspension was also made. Why is Lagumdžija spreading falsehoods?

Avoiding the essence of the matter, President Lagumdžija said that "only the issue of suspension was delegated to the HJPC, as an order to conduct an investigation was issued at that time." Based on such an explanation, the reader should conclude that the DPO only handles "delegated" matters, which would further mean that the disciplinary responsibility of the suspected president of the Court will not be decided until someone "delegates" it.

It seems that the HJPC is helping someone commit the criminal offense of abuse of position!? Some believe that Lagumdžija was repaying a debt to his president Debevec, who nominated him for a member of the HJPC and helped him get elected as president of the HJPC!? There is no end to the trade of influence in the judicial system!

The practice of amnestying prosecutors and judges from disciplinary responsibility has led to the longest trials, precisely against judicial office holders, even for the mildest criminal offenses. For two cases of negligent work in office, criminal proceedings against prosecutors have been ongoing, or have been conducted, for about eight years. Their legal complexity is such that they should have been concluded within a year.

Why do they last for eight years? Is it precisely because the accused receive their full salary until the criminal proceedings are concluded and have no interest in their case being concluded quickly?

Disciplinary responsibility is a key issue of integrity for judicial office holders, which has been discussed in recent years as a strategic reform issue. How does the fact that a judge who has disgraced the BiH judiciary and caused enormous damage to the Court and the state of BiH is rewarded with a full presidential salary and amnesty from disciplinary responsibility fit into such a Brussels reform agenda? Someone must put an end to these and other legal disgraces and paradoxes that shame every honorable prosecutor and judge.

Instead of condemning and explaining the disciplinary case of President Ranko Debevec, former president Lagumdžija, in the same address, informed us that the Head of the EU Delegation in BiH, Luigi Soreca, "expressed support for the work of the HJPC and stated that he is satisfied with what has been done"!

Welcome, Luigi! You have truly helped us a lot!