Mehmedović requests action from the Administrative Inspectorate of the Ministry of Justice: Why are those aged 65 not being retired?

(Patria) - Šemsudin Mehmedović, a delegate in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mixed Club), has submitted a request to the Administrative Inspectorate of the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina to conduct an inspection in three state institutions. The reason is a gross violation of Article 71, paragraph (1), point a), subparagraph 1 of the Law on Labor in Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which clearly stipulates that the employment of employees in institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina terminates by force of law when they reach 65 years of age. 

"This provision is constantly violated, and institutions act contrary to the law, as the Office for Audit of Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been warning in its reports for years, thereby damaging the Budget of Bosnia and Herzegovina by millions of amounts.

In the Concessions Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina, three of its members are still working, despite the fact that they have long fulfilled the legal conditions for retirement. One member fulfilled the conditions for retirement based on age as early as 2007. That means, for a full 19 years, instead of retiring, he received an extraordinary salary and enjoys all the benefits arising from that status. Today he is 84 years old.

His somewhat younger colleagues in the same institution are 73 and 71 years old, and should have been retired eight and six years ago, respectively. 

Also, one member of the Competition Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina had his employment illegally extended, because, having reached 65 years of age, he fulfilled the conditions for retirement and should have been retired by force of law two years ago.

The excuse for not doing so is an opinion from the state Ministry of Justice stating that: 'A member of the Competition Council of BiH appointed for a term remains in office until the end of the term,' which is also contrary to the applicable law. No one's opinion, not even that of the Minister of Justice, can derogate from the law. 

Furthermore, it is absolutely incorrect that the parliamentary military ombudsman, at 70 years of age, cannot be retired, that his term ends exclusively in the event of resignation or death, nor that he should remain in that position until his 100th birthday."

Delegate Mehmedović requested from the Administrative Inspectorate the urgent conduct of a direct inspection of the legality of extending the employment of the mentioned individuals and to order the issuance of decisions on termination of employment due to retirement. 

Incidentally, the Administrative Inspectorate should have acted ex officio on this matter, as it had information that there are currently a total of 22 individuals employed in 13 institutions who have fulfilled the legally prescribed conditions for termination of employment.

The Inspectorate submitted the aforementioned data to the House of Representatives at the beginning of 2026, having obtained it based on an indirect inspection conducted following a conclusion of the House of Representatives on this issue adopted at its 31st session, held on September 11, 2025. 

In the aforementioned actions of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and their managers, there are certainly elements of criminal liability as well, which must certainly be a reason for the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina to act, it was announced.