Letter to Judge Priebe: If you are not careful, you will be deceived in BiH

German judge Reinhard Priebe, an independent legal expert of the European Union, is currently visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he is expected to determine how correctly the judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina has handled certain criminal cases in recent years.

The judicial system is a fundamental value of Western European countries, which next May 9th celebrates its 70th anniversary since Robert Schuman, then French Foreign Minister, presented his proposal for the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1950, which would be the initial spark for the European Union as we know it today, with strong and independent judicial institutions. Therefore, things are set up in such a way that any country wishing to become part of this developed community must first sort out its own prosecution and judiciary.

And what is the judiciary like in Bosnia and Herzegovina – if the Minister of Security, Dragan Mektić, says it is a group of hardened mafiosi stronger than the state, then the European future of Bosnia and Herzegovina is questionable?!

While visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina, Judge Priebe will specifically focus on the validity of the investigation in the case of the murder of two young Bosnians: Dženan Memić and David Dragičević. Their families accuse the BiH prosecution services of complicity in the crime – Memić of the Sarajevo prosecution and Dragičević of the Banja Luka prosecution – or, very clearly and loudly, they state that people from the top of the BiH judiciary are covering up the murderers of their children and thus protecting the murderers who lead to the very political top in the country, or their families. Without a doubt, the deaths of these two young men have exposed all the flaws of the judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or rather, they have shown that the judicial system in the country functions, but only when it needs to protect the political oligarchy, not the ordinary person.

However, for Reinhard Priebe, a seventy-year-old German, born in Lübeck, about seventy kilometers northeast of Hamburg, with an exceptional scientific and practical judicial career, to get a true picture of the BiH judiciary, he must first remove Milan Tegeltija, the president of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council /HJPC/, from his circle, who – based solely on his last few moves – must be considered the main culprit for the criminalization of the judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although the HJPC's role is to sanction the failures of prosecutors and judges in BiH, Tegeltija rewards controversial prosecutors with the highest positions in the BiH judiciary. For example, Tegeltija supported Gordana Tadić for the head of the state prosecution, a controversial prosecutor who is related to some of the leaders of the HDZ, a political party that protects war criminals while some members of that party are also suspected of crimes of biblical proportions.

Tegeltija also supported the appointment of Dalida Burzić, the chief cantonal prosecutor in Sarajevo, to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite her being under suspicion for obstructing the investigation after the murder of the young man Dženan Memić.

Since Priebe does not have all the time in the world, but must promptly review the work of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and we have determined that he cannot get reliable guidance from the HJPC and the Prosecutor's Office on which cases to pay close attention to, here are a few guidelines from a journalist's perspective on which drawers of the BiH Prosecutor's Office the meticulous German should peek into as soon as possible:

The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has not yet resolved several political murders, such as the assassination of the late Deputy Minister of the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs, Jozo Leutar, the murder of Nedžad Ugljanin, the murder of the wife of the Army of RBiH General Sefer Halilović, as well as numerous other political murders in the country. For example, the HDZ uses the murder of the unfortunate Leutar to this day to raise inter-ethnic tensions in the Federation, scaring Croats with secret Bosniak services that feed on Croatian blood, and the only protector from this invisible beast that creeps up when a legitimate Croat least expects it is certainly the HDZ. Or, although it is an irreparable tragedy, Halilović's family very often uses the death of their unfortunate wife today to gain political points, while they put a target on the backs of political opponents because of this tragedy.

Since Priebe does not have all the time in the world, but must act promptly, and it is difficult to believe that he will receive credible guidance from Milan Tegeltija on which direction to review the decisions of the BiH judiciary, perhaps the meticulous German should ask the Bosnian and Herzegovinian Prosecutor's Office how it is possible that they did not find a single prosecutor who would file an indictment when Milorad Dodik, as the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, insults the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, denies the genocide in Srebrenica, and Rajko Vasić simultaneously announces a new massacre.

In the latest text by academician Esad Duraković, “Bosnia has no one to defend it,” the professor presents key points on why Bosnia and Herzegovina is threatened and why he believes citizens currently have no one to defend them from rising fascism. The fact that the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina are at the mercy of fascists and criminals is largely the responsibility of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council – the former because they do not sanction fascism and crime in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the latter because they do not sanction fascism and crime within the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.

Finally, I recommend that Judge Priebe, an independent legal expert of the European Union, also talk to businessman Dževad Haznadar and ask him: “For God’s sake, Haznadar, is it true that Milan Tegeltija, as a judge in Banja Luka, participated in the robbery of your multi-million dollar property in Laktaši?”