A Lie from Bećirović's Pen: There is No Technical Mandate for Judges at the European Court of Human Rights!

By A. Čorbo-Zećo

The public in Bosnia and Herzegovina is accustomed to Denis Bećirović very often releasing long letters, open or closed, in which he regularly writes a lot but says little, as he did in an inappropriate number of previous mandates in various positions, and as he is doing now from the position of member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The domestic public has not forgotten Bećirović's 'sloppiness', where just to be the first to submit a request for an assessment of the constitutionality of a law from the BiH entity Republika Srpska (and of course, he announced it on social media), that law had not yet entered into force to be able to submit such a request to the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He did something similar with a proposal for a Law on Property of Bosnia and Herzegovina, meaning we got a video clip on social media and "very important messages" but the law did not move from its place.

The story is the same regarding the alleged election of a new judge to the European Court of Human Rights, where in his explanation, with an obvious intention to promote his candidate, he states a series of untruths. For Bećirović himself to understand how wrong he is, it is necessary to speak in a language he understands, a bureaucratic language.

First, there is no technical mandate for judges at the European Court of Human Rights; the mandate of all judges lasts for 9 (nine) years. After that, the judge continues to perform their full (not technical) function until the country, as a contracting party, submits the names of new candidates.

Second, in his alleged explanation, Bećirović says, "Therefore, Bosnia and Herzegovina has not had a judge at the European Court of Human Rights in accordance with the Council of Europe regulations for more than two years," which is a blatant lie. There are at least two examples, such as the judges from Lithuania and Poland, whose mandates have also expired, but they remain full judges of the European Court of Human Rights while their countries do not submit new candidates.

This means that it is a complete lie that Bosnia and Herzegovina has not had a judge in accordance with the Council of Europe regulations for more than two years. That it is precisely a lie from Bećirović's pen, it is enough to look at Article 23(2) of the European Convention, which states: "Judges shall hold office until such time as their appointments are terminated. They shall, however, continue to deal with such cases as they have already begun to hear." And what this means in practice is established by Rule 2 § 3

of the Rules of Court, which undoubtedly states:

"In accordance with Article 23, paragraph 2, of the Convention, an elected judge shall hold office until his successor has been sworn in or has made a declaration in accordance with Rule 3." All of this means that a judge whose 9-year mandate has expired is in full mandate until the state, as a contracting party, submits a new list of candidates, a judge is elected, sworn in, and there is no set deadline for this.

Third, it is not our intention to defend the rights of Judge Faris Vehabović, but it is our intention to defend the rights of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the truth. And the truth is so obvious and is contained in the acts of the Council of Europe, which Bosnia and Herzegovina joined in 2002, which Denis Bećirović should know. If he knows, then he is consciously working to replace Judge Vehabović at a very delicate moment for Bosnia and Herzegovina, directly aligning himself with those forces that want to maintain the ethnically based political system in our country. Perhaps such an ethnically based political system in Bosnia and Herzegovina suits Bećirović, because we have heard very little from him about a civic state, i.e., a state of equal citizens.

In the second case, if Bećirović and his team of experts do not know this, then we have the right to ask if he belongs there or if his function as a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina serves only for photos and video clips on social media from which the citizens of this country gain absolutely nothing. We will remind Bećirović that in this calendar year 2024, the mandate of 11 (eleven) other judges at the European Court of Human Rights expires, so perhaps he thinks that all 11 countries will immediately replace all their judges.
Of course, they will not, because practice speaks otherwise.

Fourth, candidates for judges at the European Court of Human Rights are not selected through a competition as Bećirović claims, because a competition as a procedure implies the possibility of a two-stage decision-making process, i.e., initiating an ordinary legal remedy or appeal by candidates who believe they have been wronged. However, this is a public call that serves for individuals who believe they have the knowledge and abilities to be judges of the European Court of Human Rights to express their intention, taking into account that they meet the criteria set by the Council of Europe for the election of judges to the European Court of Human Rights. Whether Bećirović knows the difference between the procedure of a competition and a public call remains unknown.

And fifth, it has become very clear to the public that Bećirović in his work does half of the things that are not even within the competence of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, such as, for example, the existence of some council for economic issues, and economics is not the competence of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, unless all the economy of this country is crammed into the proposal of the annual Budget of Bosnia and Herzegovina. That is, have we handed over this country to a person who does many things that are not within the competence of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which includes long, useless letters.

Or is Bećirović following the line of the 'Trojka' (Three), who would place a person without a single day of judicial experience in the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because they promised support to the HDZ and their preferred candidate, committing unprecedented legal violence in the previous period, and thus would also send one of the perpetually regular candidates for various positions in the bodies of the Council of Europe to the European Court of Human Rights, again committing some form of legal violence.