Obralija: The verdict confirmed that the Director of SIPA should have been dismissed long ago!

Member of the Independent Board of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina Enes Obralija, commenting on the verdict for SIPA Director Goran Zubac, said that the verdict is only proof that he was right when last year he requested that the Independent Board submit a proposal to the Council of Ministers for the dismissal of Zubac from the head of the State Investigation and Protection Agency.

Obralija told the BiH news agency Patria that he had requested Zubac's dismissal, but the Independent Board did not grant his proposals.

Judge Mirsad Strika sentenced Zubac to a one-year suspended prison sentence, meaning he will not serve a prison sentence if he does not commit a new criminal offense within the next two years.

Goran Zubac, Director of SIPA, is guilty of dereliction of duty because on February 7, 2014, he refused to provide assistance to the Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies of BiH when the buildings of the BiH Presidency and Government were burning in Sarajevo.

With this first-instance verdict, the Court of BiH determined, based on the factual situation and evidence, that Goran Zubac acted negligently, knowingly violating BiH laws when he refused to provide assistance to the Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies (DKPT).

Explaining the verdict, Judge Mirsad Strika stated that the defense's claim that there was no agreement on mutual assistance between police bodies was insufficient, because at the time when the buildings of the BiH Presidency, the BiH Archives, and the Constitutional Court of BiH were burning, it was more important for the Special Unit led by Zubac to assist the Directorate, as this is also stipulated by law.

Zubac's dismissal from the position of SIPA Director was requested immediately after the protests in February 2014, but the Independent Board of the PS BiH, led by Žiko Krunić, never requested his dismissal. Sources of the Patria news agency claim that Krunić is protecting Zubac because Zubac was the most vocal advocate for Krunić to take over the Independent Board.

Krunić, the chairman of the Independent Board who is most responsible for Zubac not being dismissed or suspended, is not answering phone calls.