Azra Miletić's request rejected, she will still be tried by the Court of BiH

The Court of BiH rejected the request to transfer the proceedings against judge Azra Miletić, accused of accepting bribes, to a lower court, BIRN reported, as stated by the news agency Patria.

The decision states that the fact that Miletić, as a long-time employee of the Court of BiH, has built professional and personal relationships with other judges, as well as that the Court of BiH held a press conference after her arrest, does not indicate the existence of a reasonable doubt that the Court will be biased in this case.

- Doubts due to the fact that the accused would be tried by her colleagues with whom she has built professional and personal relationships – which is why there is doubt about their impartiality – are not objectively justifiable in the assessment of this court - the Court's decision states.

As added, all circumstances mentioned by the Defence are "theoretical and illusory", especially since they are not related to a specific judge, but to the entire Court.

- In a collective like the Court of BiH, with 50 judges, who do not share offices, who do not meet for days, which has existed for a little over ten years and in which there is considerable turnover of judges, a justified fear of bias cannot be established - stated pre-trial judge Minka Kreho in the decision.

Furthermore, as added, the accused has many years of experience in the judiciary, participated in various working groups and seminars, and is known to a wide circle of judges in other courts.

The Defence's arguments, according to the Court, are unfounded because they do not state facts and circumstances from the proceedings so far.

- Bearing in mind that there have been no procedural actions in the proceedings so far that would raise doubts about bias and the general allegations from the proposal, the unambiguous conclusion is that the professional capacity and dignity of the Court of BiH are ready and capable of responding to the challenge of trying this case, as any other - the decision states.

In its submission, the Defence pointed out that the case against Court of BiH judge Dragica Miletić, accused of abuse of office, was transferred by the Court of BiH to the Municipal Court in Sarajevo, due to the "external impression of impartiality and independence".

However, the case against Azra Miletić is, according to the assessment of the Court of BiH, different.

- The Court accepts the Prosecutor's claims that this is indeed a complex case of a corrupt nature with very serious consequences for the judicial community, which is directly related to the organized crime case, where the co-defendants are Šabić and Brkić - the decision stated.

Miletić is accused along with Senad Šabić and Ram Brkić. According to the indictment, Šabić and Brkić promised judge Miletić a monetary reward to influence the outcome of the appellate proceedings in which they were tried for organized crime. The indictment states that Miletić agreed and received part of the promised money from the intermediary, NAP reports.