Commission as an Alibi: Will the New Judicial Investigation End Like Previous Ones?

By: Amina Čorbo-Zećo

The Commission for Combating Corruption of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH will consider the initiative to launch the procedure for forming a new Investigative Commission on the state of the judiciary on Wednesday.

This initiative comes at a time when the public is witnessing new scandals and serious accusations concerning the integrity and independence of leading figures in judicial institutions, including the current Chief Prosecutor Milanko Kajganić. It seems everything is too late and too slow!

The justification for the initiative states that recent cases have further eroded public trust in the judicial system, deepened suspicions of political and interest-based influences, and exposed the weaknesses of accountability and internal control mechanisms. Such a situation, they warn, is not only an internal institutional problem but also a direct obstacle to Bosnia and Herzegovina's European path.

The warm water has been discovered again!

It is not disputed that parliamentary oversight of the judiciary is legitimate and necessary. Nor is it disputed that judicial reform is one of the key priorities on the European path, including the adoption of a new law on the HJPC, which should guarantee greater independence, transparency, and accountability of judicial officeholders. However, experience teaches us that in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the formation of commissions often becomes a substitute for real action.

When the system does not want or know how to solve a problem, it forms a commission. When political responsibility is absent, a hearing is organized. Thus, former Chief Prosecutor Gordana Tadić went through parliamentary hearings, after which the public received a lot of rhetoric and few substantive changes. It seems we have already read the book, and we know its ending.

Bosnia and Herzegovina needs much more than another commission. It needs political will to implement laws, establish clear accountability mechanisms, and end the practice of selective justice. Without this, every new investigative commission risks becoming just another institutional outlet to appease the public, rather than a tool for deep reform. BiH needs a judiciary that will not engage in historical revisionism, it needs a judiciary that establishes the truth, not one that, through fabricated indictments, helps political power brokers.

If the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH truly wants to show it is up to the task, then the new commission must have a clear mandate, precise deadlines, and binding conclusions that will result in concrete legislative changes and accountability practices.

It is difficult to expect this, knowing that reports on the work of the BiH Prosecutor's Office have been rejected by Parliament, without any consequences for the heads of the Prosecutor's Office.

Therefore, I fear, we will once again confirm that in this country it is easier to form commissions than to work substantively.

The European path of Bosnia and Herzegovina will not depend on the number of sessions held and hearings conducted, but on real, measurable changes in the rule of law. And that is a task that no commission can complete on its own.