Term of Independent Board of BiH Parliament expired in March 2025, no call for new members

(Patria) - The Joint Committee for Defense and Security of BiH, at its session on February 12, is expected to review the Report on the Work of the Independent Board as an independent body of the police structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2025, as well as the Work Plan of the Independent Board as an independent body of the police structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2026.

The current composition of the Independent Board, which did not demonstrate professionalism and impartiality during 2024 and 2025 in the cases of Zoran Galić's escape and his dismissal from the position of Deputy Director of SIPA, and Darko Ćulum, who left SIPA for four months without a majority to propose his dismissal, had its mandate expire in 2025.

However, a new call for applications has not been issued, and the current composition has continued to perform its duties.

The Independent Board of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PSBiH) was constituted on March 11, 2021, so their mandate expired in March 2025.

The members of the Independent Board are: Enes Obralija, Chairperson, Miše Ćavar, Muhamed Mujakić, Enes Bezdrob, Mate Miletić, Nikola Džambas, Darko Kremenović, and Milan Stanić. Uroš Pena passed away in July 2024, and that position has never been filled.

Sessions of the Independent Board often lacked a quorum because members from the Serb or Croat people did not attend due to certain issues and cases.

The Independent Board is an independent body of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH which is, among other things, responsible for conducting the procedure for selecting candidates and proposing the dismissal of police officials and deputy officials of BiH police bodies (Border Police, State Investigation and Protection Agency, and Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of BiH).

However, during these two years, the Independent Board did not fulfill its mandate, and it was evident that politics dictated the behavior of certain members.

Ultimately, the Council of Ministers of BiH dismissed Zoran Galić at his own request, allowing him the possibility of a lawsuit for severance pay, and the case is currently before the Court of BiH.

The situation is even worse in the case of Darko Ćulum, regarding whom the Independent Board did not reach an agreement to propose his dismissal from the position of SIPA Director to the Council of Ministers of BiH because he left this agency and moved to the MUP of RS at the invitation of the political leadership of the RS entity.

Today, Ćulum is the undisputed ruler of SIPA with as much as 49 years of service and should have retired long ago. Although Dragan Andrić was appointed Deputy Director of SIPA in November 2025 with the votes of the ministers of the Trojka coalition, they did not set a condition for Ćulum's dismissal, nor is anyone mentioning his dismissal anymore, even though his mandate expired in July 2024.

A Temporary Joint Committee of both houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina for conducting the procedure for appointing members of the Independent Board has not been formed either.