Police Board to Decide on Candidate Appeals by August 18: Will Lukač's Arbitrariness Prevail?

The scandal surrounding the admission of 15 candidates to the Special Unit of the Federal Police Administration still has not reached its epilogue. Four candidates – Bosniaks who were removed from the list by Director Dragan Lukač and replaced with three Croats and one Other, who were ranked far below 15th place, hope that the Police Board, which handles candidate appeals, will act morally and honorably, writes the Patria agency.

The 20-day deadline expires on August 18. Lukač responded on July 31, denying media reports and justifying his actions as being in accordance with the law. He remained silent on all other reactions, as did the Minister of Internal Affairs, Aljoša Čampara.

The aggrieved candidates are not giving up and express hope that the Police Board will find the strength to act according to the law, and not according to the will of Dragan Lukač, and that it will protect the Constitution of the Federation of BiH and BiH. It remains to be seen whether they will annul the advertisement or restore the valid lists of candidates according to the test results, as the Commission originally proposed.

We are publishing in full the letter we received from one candidate:

- I am a Bosniak and I am proud of it. I did not choose my mother or father, nor the name I carry. I did not choose when and in which country I would be born or whose citizen I would be. I have no "backup" homeland or backup passport. If I had the opportunity to do so, I still would not change what I am. I am the child of a man who defended this city and country, the child of a family that gave martyrs for this homeland. Mr. Lukač is forcing me not to be what I am just to get a job and work. To start a family in this country, to support it with earned money. If I did not deserve to get the job, I would say OK. But Mr. Lukač, for reasons known only to him, changes and adjusts things as he wishes and "removes" us "Bosniaks" and even says "he is not an employment bureau or a social work center." Mr. Lukač, because of people like you, for 63 years, we boys and girls aged 20-25 are leaving BiH. You are displacing us, while you have prepared an escape route for yourself in Osijek. Because of people like you, we were "undeclared" and then in 1941 and 1992 we were slaughtered and burned. Your only "merit" for this country is that you spent a short time in a camp with the late Sulejman Tihić. You have neither shed blood for this country nor do you love it. You only exploit it and love power and authority more than anything else. Mr. Lukač, since you take the right to change the lists as you wish, I suggest you take candidates from number 10 to number 26 and employ them. Those people surely did not have connections, political ties, and maximum points like "your" people. If you look more closely at the list of people, you will see that in this way you fully respect the "national key" according to the VALID CENSUS OF R BiH from 1991. (Many of us were not even born then or were small babies) - the letter states.

The candidate notes that national affiliation is not a condition for employment because it contradicts the Constitution of BiH and the Federation of BiH, which is the highest legal act of a state. Therefore, all Laws, Rulebooks, and Regulations are less important.

The Police Board consists of Nurudin Hafizović, Mirko Kuprešaković, and Rijada Halilović.

- It would be utterly shameful if that Police Board, which is tasked with protecting citizens from illegality and the arbitrariness of individuals, rejects the appeals of the most capable and accepts your decision for the most suitable special forces. If they too violate your criteria for candidate selection, your Rulebook on candidate selection, as well as the Constitution of the Federation of BiH, the Law on Internal Affairs, and the Law on Police Officers, and of course the Criminal Code of the Federation of BiH.