Newly Appointed Prosecutor in Banja Luka Aleksandar Forca is the Son-in-Law of Fugitive War Criminal Ljuban Ećim!

(Patria) - Aleksandar Forca, son of High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH member Srđan Forca, has been appointed as a prosecutor at the District Public Prosecutor's Office in Banja Luka, Istraga.ba has learned. Forca junior was appointed unanimously, while his father abstained from voting.

This is the first time in almost a decade that the son or daughter of a member of the HJPC has been appointed to a judicial office. Such an appointment was made possible by amendments to the Law on the HJPC, adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH in December last year as part of the "reform package" on the path to the EU.

Namely, before this "reform" law, adopted by the current parliamentary majority, came into effect, it was not possible for a descendant of an HJPC member to be appointed to a judicial office.

At this link, you can read the Rulebook on Conflict of Interest of Members of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopted on May 29, 2014. According to this Rulebook, any member of the HJPC whose closest relative (parent or child) applied for a position in the judiciary had to resign from the Council. However, the BiH Parliament adopted the Law on Amendments to the Law on the HJPC last September, and these amendments enabled the HJPC to appoint the children of its members without the members whose children were appointed having to resign.

Here are the concrete proofs.

"A conflict of interest exists in situations where Council members have a private interest that affects or may affect the legality, transparency, objectivity, and impartiality in the performance of their duties, or in which private interest harms or may harm the public interest or public trust.

(2) Private interest means any benefit for:

a) a Council member;

b) a lineal relative (parent, child, adoptive parent, and adopted child), as well as a spouse and unmarried partner," it is stated in Article 2 of the Rulebook on Conflict of Interest published in the Official Gazette of BiH 61/14.

In the next article, Article 3, it states that "a conflict of interest of a Council member always exists in the following situations:

a) if they apply for any position in the judiciary;

b) if a person from Article 2, Paragraph (2), point b) of this Rulebook applies for any position in the judiciary;"

Therefore, a conflict of interest always exists if a Council member's "relative" applies for any position in the judiciary. What happens in those cases is prescribed by Article 4 of the Rulebook.

"In cases from Article 3, points a) and b) of this Rulebook, the Council member submits their resignation no later than the moment of submitting the application for a position in the judiciary," it is stated in the Rulebook.

To simplify, a member of the HJPC whose descendant applied for a position in the judiciary had to automatically resign from the HJPC. And this was the case from 2014 until last September when, with the help of the International Community, primarily the EU, the current government adopted amendments to the Law on the HJPC. At this link, you can read the amendments to the Law, which effectively allowed HJPC members to appoint their children to judicial positions. Here's how. The BiH Parliament introduced a new article to the Law regulating conflict of interest.

"A new Article 10a is added after Article 10, which reads:

"Article 10a (Conflict of Interest)

(1) A conflict of interest of a Council member exists:

a) when a Council member or their lineal relative, spouse's child, spouse or unmarried partner, adoptive parent, and adopted children, apply for a vacant position in the judiciary, including the Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska, or a vacant position of chief disciplinary prosecutor and deputy disciplinary prosecutor in the Disciplinary Prosecutor's Office or director and deputy in the Council's Secretariat;

b) in another situation where a Council member is related by collateral kinship, affinity, or has friendly, business, or any other connections or private interest that affects or may affect the legality, transparency, objectivity, and impartiality in the performance of their duties, or in which private interest harms or may harm the public interest or public trust.

(2) If a Council member applies for a vacant position from paragraph (1), point a) of this article, their mandate in the Council ceases, and if their relative or a person from paragraph (1), point a) of this article applies for a vacant position, the Council member is obliged to immediately report this to the Council upon learning of it and request their recusal from the commission for conducting interviews and the procedure for proposing and appointing candidates.

(3) Cases in which a conflict of interest from paragraph (1), point b) of this article is presumed are regulated in more detail by the Council's rulebook," it is stated in the amendments to the Law on the HJPC adopted last September.

Therefore, according to these amendments, it is sufficient for an HJPC member whose child has applied for a position in the judiciary to simply recuse themselves from voting, and the conflict of interest will be avoided. Previously, we remind you, it was stipulated that an HJPC member had to resign if they wanted their descendant to become a judge or prosecutor in BiH.

Thanks to these amendments, Srđan Forca managed to push his son Aleksandar into the position of prosecutor in Banja Luka. Incidentally, Aleksandar Forca is the son-in-law of the fugitive war criminal and member of the Zemun Clan, Ljuban Ećim.