ABOUT THE MINISTER OF DECEPTION Hadžidedić: Why is Helez protecting military personnel who are a threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of BiH?

By: prof. Zlatko Hadžidedić/NAP

On January 12, 2024, during his guest appearance on the Face to Face program on Face Television, the Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zukan Helez, commented on my statement made in the same program six days earlier, on January 7, 2024.

To recall, when asked directly by the host how the anti-Dayton and anti-constitutional celebration of January 9, which is celebrated in Banja Luka as the “Day of the Republika Srpska“, with a military parade involving members of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina from that entity, could be prevented, I said that the simplest solution would be for the Minister of Defense of BiH to dismiss from service all officers participating in that parade.

Although I clearly called for (quote) “the dismissal of all officers“, meaning the dismissal from service of all officers who would participate in such an attempt to overthrow the constitutional order, Minister Helez, in his appearance, made a completely arbitrary substitution of theses and said that my proposal for (quote) “the removal of generals is sheer stupidity“ and that “some professor there should know the Law and know that only the Presidency of BiH can remove generals“.

But why did Helez replace “all officers“ I spoke of with only “generals“, and why did he replace “dismissal from service“ with only “removal“? Perhaps this seemingly minor verbal slip, but actually a conscious deception of the public, hides much larger legal problems (and legal responsibility)? This question can be easily clarified by looking at what the Law on Defense of BiH and the Law on Service in the Armed Forces of BiH say about all this.

According to the Law on Defense of BiH, Article 6, “Bosnia and Herzegovina organizes, develops, and maintains military capacity and readiness of the Armed Forces for the purpose of: a) ensuring the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence, and international subjectivity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, b) promoting the foreign policy goals of Bosnia and Herzegovina, c) fulfilling the international obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, d) protecting the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina“.

According to the same law, Article 2, paragraph (1), “The Armed Forces are a professional, unified military force organized and controlled by Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Therefore, this military force is professional and under the control of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to Article 8, paragraph (1), “Bosnia and Herzegovina exercises command and control over the Armed Forces.” And according to the same article, paragraph (2), “The chain of command and control over the Armed Forces starts from the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter referred to as the Presidency) to the Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, then through the Chief of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces, the commanders of the Operational Command of the Armed Forces and the Support Command of the Armed Forces to the commanders of subordinate commands and units”.

According to the same law, Article 11, the Presidency “has supreme command and control over the Armed Forces”. As such, in accordance with Article 12, item d), the Presidency is competent to “authorize the Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina to order the use and deployment of the Armed Forces.”

Therefore, the Minister of Defense is the one authorized to order the use and deployment of the Armed Forces, and any use and deployment of the Armed Forces that is not in accordance with the orders of the authorized Minister of Defense constitutes a criminal offense. The Minister of Defense has a legal obligation to exercise direct control over the Armed Forces, because, as the Law on Defense of BiH also states, Article 13, paragraph (1), item t), the Ministry of Defense is responsible for “supervision over all entities of the Armed Forces”.

The arbitrary interruption of the chain of command by certain units of the Armed Forces and their placement under the control and command of one of the entities – while considering the fact that this entity simultaneously threatens to declare secession – represents the most serious violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This act constitutes a criminal offense of the highest degree, the criminal offense of treason, which should be decided by the Prosecutor's Office and the judicial system, which the Constitution obliges to legally react to violations of the state's sovereignty and territorial integrity, regardless of who these violations come from, including military personnel.

We cannot deal with the issue of the (in)action of the Prosecutor's Office in this and similar cases here, but it should be said that by not taking the legally prescribed steps to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Prosecutor's Office itself indirectly acts against the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as, consequently, against its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

However, even in this case, the Minister of Defense is the one who has the obligation to send a letter to the Prosecutor's Office and request the initiation of criminal proceedings against the perpetrators of the criminal offense of treason who are members of the Armed Forces.

However, the arbitrary interruption of the chain of command also constitutes a breach of the contract that all professional military personnel have signed with the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina upon entering professional military service.

To recall, in accordance with the Law on Defense of BiH, Article 56, all personnel upon entering military service and signing the relevant contract also take the following oath: “I solemnly swear that I will defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity, constitutional order, and political independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina and will conscientiously and responsibly perform all duties necessary for its defense.”

The sanction for acting contrary to this oath and breaching this contract is “loss of professional service“ for military personnel who have breached that contract, as provided for by the Law on Service in the Armed Forces of BiH, Article 165, paragraph (1), item h).

Such a, the most severe sanction follows because it concerns a disciplinary offense of the highest degree, such as non-execution or refusal to execute commands, decisions, or orders of a superior“, and “unauthorized absence from a formation or institution“, in accordance with Article 161, item a) and item b), of the same law. In this legal relationship, the state is represented by the Minister of Defense, who exercises “supervision over all entities of the Armed Forces“, and who has the obligation to act in accordance with the aforementioned legal provisions and to dismiss from professional military service military personnel who have unilaterally placed themselves outside his supervision and thereby caused an interruption in the chain of command.

Given that all military personnel signed the contract for professional military service with the Ministry of Defense of BiH, there can be no doubt that sanctions for unilateral breach of this contract must be imposed by the Minister of Defense, and no one else. Likewise, there can be no doubt that the committed acts of arbitrary interruption of the command chain constitute disciplinary offenses of the most serious nature, and that the resulting sanction for such offenses can only be the loss of professional service.

No matter how much the current Minister Helez understands his function as extremely irresponsible and optional, as a position that only gives power but does not require responsibility and obligations, the Minister of Defense cannot in any way avoid the obligation to implement the Law on Defense of BiH and the Law on Service in the Armed Forces of BiH, nor can he avoid the resulting responsibility in case of non-implementation of these laws.

If at any point any part of the Armed Forces refuses to follow the orders of the Minister of Defense, the minister is legally obliged to dismiss all military personnel belonging to that part of the Armed Forces from professional service and exclude them from collective and individual membership in the Armed Forces. Otherwise, if he fails to act in accordance with this legal obligation, it is the constitutional obligation of the Presidency to initiate the dismissal of the Minister of Defense himself by the BiH Parliament.

At this moment, we can only ask ourselves – what is the Presidency waiting for, and why is it not initiating the dismissal of the Minister of Defense, in accordance with its constitutional obligations?
When it comes to generals, as part of the Armed Forces that the Law on Defense of BiH has placed in a somewhat different position compared to other officers, according to Article 12, item k), the Presidency “appoints and dismisses generals in the Armed Forces”. In this point, Minister Helez is formally correct, and precisely because of this, he attributes to me a statement I never made, in which I allegedly asked him to “remove generals”: because, how can “some professor there” ask him to “remove generals” when that is the legal authority of the Presidency?!

However, Minister Helez failed to read the same law in its entirety, or he is consciously misinterpreting it and thereby deceiving the public: because, according to Article 15, item g), the Minister of Defense is the one who “proposes the appointment, promotion, and removal of generals in accordance with the provisions of this law”. Therefore, the Presidency formally appoints and removes generals in the Armed Forces, but cannot initiate such removal without the proposal of the Minister of Defense.
And, although the law does not explicitly state it, legal logic dictates that generals, once removed by the Presidency, and upon the prior proposal of the Minister of Defense, can then, like all other military personnel, be dismissed from their duties in the Armed Forces by the Minister of Defense himself.

Therefore, the Minister of Defense has the discretionary right, but also the legal obligation, to dismiss from professional service all military personnel below the rank of general who refuse to place themselves under his control and command, and who refuse to be deployed in accordance with his orders. And the Minister of Defense also has the discretionary right, and legal obligation, to initiate the removal of generals before the Presidency who refuse to place themselves under his control and command, and in the event that the Presidency makes a decision on their removal, he also has the right to make a decision on their dismissal from professional military service.

As we know, Minister Helez – despite his legal obligations – has not dismissed any military personnel below the rank of general from professional military service, nor has he initiated the issue of removing generals before the Presidency, even though they have interrupted the chain of command and placed themselves under the command of an entity that threatens secession – meaning, they have completely violated their legal and contractual obligation to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and they have chosen to act directly against its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

By refusing to act in accordance with the Law on Defense of BiH and the Law on Service in the Armed Forces of BiH, and by refusing to perform his function as Minister of Defense in accordance with the legal framework prescribed for him, is Minister Helez actually protecting military personnel who pose a direct military threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina? And does Minister Helez himself bear criminal responsibility in this regard, as well as in terms of inaction in accordance with his legal obligations?

Despite loud guarantees that he is the one protecting the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina from attempts to overthrow the constitutional order coming from Republika Srpska, his refusal to act in accordance with the legal framework he has as Minister of Defense testifies that he is actually protecting from the law precisely those who are overthrowing the Constitution, and undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Furthermore, by leaving the destroyers of the constitutional order and violators of the professional military service contract in their current positions, without any sanctions they must face, Minister Helez leaves them the resources possessed by the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina at their disposal, so that they, continuing to use these resources, can unhindered continue to destroy the constitutional order and undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Simply put, by not dismissing the aforementioned military personnel from professional military service, Minister Helez continues to supply them with weapons and ammunition, in order to help them in their possible armed attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In this context, it becomes clearer why Minister Helez is so bothered by the fact that someone in public called on him to perform his function as Minister of Defense and oppose, using the means provided by law, attempts to overthrow the constitutional order, and instead of performing his duty, he started a nonsensical story about “removing generals“, as some supposedly impossible mission that a Minister of Defense, well, cannot even think of initiating.

However, what is more concerning in his public appearance than the story about “removing generals“ is the frequent repetition of the phrase “Sleep peacefully, Bosnia and Herzegovina has someone to defend it!“.

The last time the citizens of this country heard a similar phrase, “Sleep peacefully, there will be no war, it takes two to start a war!“, war broke out, in which at least 100,000 people were killed. Now, when they hear that they should “sleep peacefully“ because “Bosnia and Herzegovina has someone to defend it“, citizens logically must ask themselves – will they be 'defended' by precisely those whom Minister Helez protects from legal responsibility and to whom he leaves the resources of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina at their disposal, enabling them to bring this country to final ruin with the help of state resources?