Ranko Debevec is the new President of the Court of BiH

Ranko Debevec is the new President of the Court of BiH. He was appointed to this position today by the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC).

Seven candidates applied for the position of President of the Court of BiH; Court of BiH judges Branko Perić, Izo Tankić, Ranko Debevec, Mira Smajlović and Tihomir Lukes, as well as prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor's Office Ismet Šuškić and chief prosecutor of the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office Dalida Burzić.

Six members of the HJPC voted for Debevec, five were against, and one abstained.

Ranko Debevec was born in 1964 in Sarajevo, where he graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Sarajevo in 1988. 

In the period from 1995 to 2000, he worked as a translator and advisor with the UNPROFOR and NATO missions, and from 2000 to 2005, he worked as a legal advisor at the Commission for Property Claims of Displaced Persons and Refugees (CRPC), at Hypo Bank in Sarajevo and the Public Attorney's Office of Centar Municipality. 

From 2005 to 2008, he held the position of prosecutor at the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Sarajevo. 

He was appointed prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor's Office on April 10, 2008, and in the period from 2010 to 2012, he was a member of the IPA project team of the Council of Europe for combating cybercrime. 

He was appointed judge of the Court of BiH on 12.12.2012.

Debevec will replace judge Meddžida Kreso in the position of President of the Court of BiH, who held this position for 12 years, or two terms. Judge Kreso's mandate lasts until January 26, 2017, writes Patria.