Judiciary: Announcement of Self-Destruction

By Branko Perić/Nezavisne

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In a New Year's interview with the "most influential daily newspaper" (also the most influential on the judiciary!, editor's note), the President of the HJPC Milan Tegeltija states that he is satisfied with the state of the judiciary! There is truth in this attempt to obscure the situation - as in any oversight! Tegeltija can rightly be satisfied with the realization of the political project to destroy the judiciary: he has achieved more than his principals asked for!

However, I have no intention of dealing with Tegeltija and his dark triades. In our distorted model of politics, there are plenty of unfinished characters who deal with the destruction of everything they get their hands on. The phenomenon of the judiciary is that it has largely self-destructed systematically. My intention is to draw the reader's attention to those who approve of the destruction of judicial power or silently observe it as if it does not concern them. That kind of complicity in destruction borders on madness.

If we were to play with the simplest sociological method of proving facts today and ask judges where and what the causes of the current situation in criminal justice are, they would say, in confidence and so that no one hears them, that the main problem is prosecutors who conduct investigations poorly and come to court without evidence. If we were to ask prosecutors the same question, they would all say that the problem is the police and judges who do not adhere to the law or their own practice, but use various procedural tricks to acquit obvious culprits. If we were to go to the HJPC and ask Milan, Ružica, and Jadranka why the judiciary is the way domestic critics and European experts describe it, they would wave their hands and say: "Leave the European experts alone, they don't know the facts but write based on 'public perception' which doesn't understand judicial matters. Here's the statistics, and you'll see that we are getting better and better every year. If it weren't for these dissatisfied Machiavellians and populists who attack us, we would be the best judicial system!" And they will invariably push the EC's Peer Review recommendations into your hands, claiming that they have accepted and implemented them all in practice. And as the crowning proof of the good state, they will tell you that everything they have done, they have done in partnership with the EC.

There is something schizophrenic in the perception and understanding of the state of the judiciary among judges and prosecutors and those who manage the judiciary. Each of them sees the problems differently and is unable to step out of their own point of view. And it does not occur to any of them to engage in a serious professional and social dialogue about the problems and perspectives.

If a careful researcher, in order to determine where the problems of different perceptions of the state of the judiciary and the inability to discuss them lie, would start from the logical assumption that judges and prosecutors are people who know the problems in their profession best. And not only do they know them best, but they also know how to solve these problems. After all, every society relies on its own intellectual potential in analyzing social trends. Therefore, this would be the only reasonable way to find and overcome all kinds of problems in a system of state power.

Well, in that assessment, the researcher would encounter the malignant disease of the judiciary! In BiH, there are no judges and prosecutors who think and who want and dare to say what they think! Judges and prosecutors in BiH are a dormant mass of well-paid and well-situated subjects of every authority, both political and judicial, ready to sacrifice honor and dignity for a regular salary, quick promotion, membership in some government commission, a trip to a conference in some distant country, or some other sinecure available only to the chosen few, whatever it may be. They are not interested in who manages the judiciary, who produces the problem, what the laws are, whether there is justice, why corruption and organized crime are not prosecuted, what the reputation of the judiciary is, and what someone thinks of them and their profession. Others are no better, they will conclude nonchalantly. Others are the measure of things for them. They are sufficient for themselves because their only motive and only life goal is a regular salary. That is why none of the five associations of judges and prosecutors speaks out about the problems. They also see their goal and place in the system in some minor benefits, even if they are trips around the world or annual parties. They are not interested in how the judiciary functions, what its perspective is, who represents them in the world, and what the reputation of their profession is. Their interest has recently been reduced to the thesis that they should have their own representative in the HJPC, and they have never had any discussion about the reasons.

Judges and prosecutors are not involved in public dialogue about the functioning of the judiciary, legislative initiatives, bad laws, corruption at the highest levels of government, corruption in the judiciary, or guidelines sent to them by the regulator, even though it has no authority to do so... In the judiciary, there is no thinking and no speaking. In the judiciary, as in religion, one only performs rituals, with the same ceremony and the same prayer. When you ask judges and prosecutors about political influence on the judiciary, they will all categorically say that they cannot be influenced. And they will repeat the same thing that politicians repeat: that no one has ever influenced them. Judges and prosecutors are, even unconsciously, in a kind of cohabitation with politicians, and their best defense!

Judges and prosecutors are today one of the few professions that have no guiding goal. They are taught to fulfill procedural forms, to produce good statistics, to not offend anyone, to not answer to anyone, and to not express opinions on anything. For them, independence and autonomy are a saving shell, an armor that protects them from all kinds of danger.

For prosecutors, guilt is not important, but the indictment is. It is not important how to accuse, but whom (not) to accuse. Human rights are not important, but statistics are. For judges, going to court does not mean going for justice. For them, there is no person, but a case. Their justice is lost in proceduralism and long trials. For them, a confirmed verdict is important, not confirmed justice. They practice on the poor, and avoid the political and judicial powerful. The only dream they have is to have the right to professional error legalized, so they can be at peace.

No one can help this kind of judiciary. There is no problem they will talk about publicly. There is no principle they will fight for. There is no independent opinion they will support. There is no report they will read carefully. There is no one who will put Pribe's report on the agenda if Milan, Ružica, and Jadranka do not approve. This is a judiciary that does not talk. This is a judiciary that retreats from challenges. This is a judiciary that has agreed that anyone can humiliate and insult judges and prosecutors.

Such a judiciary is a triumph of immorality. Dead and uninterested, it is a "fig leaf" that covers great crime and guarantees impunity for the authorities. Only such a judiciary could have twice chosen a group of irresponsible and incompetent people who have systematically destroyed it.

At the end of this year, this shameful betrayal of the profession should finally be announced! The ruling policies can celebrate their great victory! They are at peace now!

Peace to us too! Amen.

(the author is a judge of the Court of BiH)