Secretary and officials of the Old Town Municipality send an open letter: We are being attacked by dependent judiciary

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Secretary of the state service bodies of the Old Town Municipality Sarajevo and the heads of municipal services – assistants to the mayor, today sent an Open Letter to multiple judicial addresses, prime ministers, governments, ministers, embassies, and Eric Nelson.

The letter was sent to the following addresses: Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of KS, c/o Chief Prosecutor Sabina Sarajlija, Municipal Court in Sarajevo, c/o Court President Janja Jovanović, High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH, c/o HJPC President Milan Tegeltija, Prime Minister of FBiH Fadil Novalić, Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs, c/o Minister Aljoša Čampare, Federal Ministry of Justice, c/o Minister Mate Jozić, Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton Marijo Nenadić, MUP of Sarajevo Canton, c/o Minister Ismir Jusko, Ministry of Justice and Administration of Sarajevo Canton, c/o Minister Mersa Kustura, Office of the High Representative in BiH, c/o High Representative Valentin Inzko, EU Delegation to BiH, c/o Ambassador Johann Sattler, US Embassy in BiH, c/o Ambassador Eric Nelson, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, c/o Ambassador Margret Uebber, Embassy of Great Britain in BiH, c/o Ambassador Matthew Field, Embassy of France in BiH, c/o Ambassador Guillaume Rousson.

We are transmitting the letter in its entirety:

"Dear Sir/Madam,

We are addressing you with an open letter due to the increasingly frequent requests directed to the Old Town Municipality Sarajevo and the Mayor mr. Ibrahim Hadžibajrić for the submission of documentation, acting on various reports from identified, but also unidentified persons (anonymous reports), which are treated in the same way, and which is an unprecedented practice in organized legal systems.

First of all, we want to emphasize that the Old Town Municipality Sarajevo will fulfill all legal obligations and submit the requested documentation, regardless of the scope and volume of work additionally imposed on us.

To make it clear what this is about, we emphasize that from the beginning of September this year until today, the Old Town Municipality Sarajevo and the Mayor mr. Ibrahim Hadžibajrić have been requested by the Federal Police Administration and the Municipal Court, at whose request the MUP of Sarajevo Canton is acting, to provide complete documentation for 25 separate and very complex cases handled by the competent services. Among the requested cases are those that are more than a decade old and date back to 2007 (before the first term of Mayor mr. Ibrahim Hadžibajrić), when various services and bodies within the Municipality acted on them and they are stored in a very extensive archive, which requires additional time, effort, and resources.

We must emphasize that the Old Town Municipality Sarajevo, along with all municipal services, has work plans for the current year, the next two and three years, as well as legal deadlines for resolving ongoing cases. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we have established a completely new, unique way of communicating with citizens, where, due to the impossibility of moving within the municipal building, we enable communication outdoors, in local communities through "Outdoor Reception of Clients", which we do three times a week. In addition to all of this, it is very difficult to respond to and satisfy such a large number of requests, which we consider to be completely unjustified and unfounded. At the same time, they significantly affect our work because we are constantly exposed to enormous pressure, both from investigative bodies and certain media.

The question arises: Is this a deliberate campaign by political parties that can influence police-intelligence organizations in our country and the independent judiciary, in which we – civil servants and employees, are victims of political manipulation?

Is this a practice that is also carried out in other administrative bodies, or is it a "privilege" that only we in the Old Town Municipality have? Why are we asked for documentation for 25 complex cases in a period of 25 days, and among them are some that were completed long ago? Our obligation is to work in accordance with legal regulations, and we absolutely stand behind everything we have done and are ready to submit everything that has been requested of us, but the question should be asked why now, a month before the start of the election campaign?

We emphasize here that this is an attempt to damage the reputation of the Old Town Municipality Sarajevo and Mayor Ibrahim Hadžibajrić, and to dispute the achieved results in the previous period, which should not be questioned at any moment. Especially for the reason that in the past twelve years, numerous independent international, as well as domestic non-governmental organizations have awarded the Mayor Ibrahim Hadžibajrić and the Old Town Municipality Sarajevo the highest recognitions for transparency, as well as for the achieved work results.

We, the heads of services in the Old Town Municipality Sarajevo, are proud of these results, recognitions, and the fact that we work in an institution headed by Mayor Ibrahim Hadžibajrić.

With this letter, we want to draw the attention of all of you to whom it is addressed that we are aware of the manipulations being carried out, and we have already informed the competent authorities about this, as well as international organizations operating in our country and embassies.

Such actions no longer reflect the work of an independent judiciary in our country, but quite the opposite, a DEPENDENT judiciary of which we are victims.

We call on all investigative bodies in our country to gather from their drawers all anonymous reports and reports with identified complainants that they have ever received, obtain court orders, and set a date on which the Old Town Municipality Sarajevo will enable them to execute the order by making all files and documentation available to them. In this way, we will show our commitment to acting on court orders, working in accordance with legal regulations, and respecting all principles of transparency."