SIPA and Dodik's apprehension: A single-nationality team - Bosniaks and Croats excluded from security assessment!?

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

The State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) conducted a security assessment, which was deemed high-risk in the case of Milorad Dodik's apprehension, and as such was submitted to the BiH Court Police for further informing of competent institutions, namely the BiH Prosecutor's Office, it was recently briefly announced by SIPA.

This State Agency has never clarified why they suspended operations in the entity of Republika Srpska (although they weren't particularly active in RS even before this crisis). Has the apprehension of criminals in Republika Srpska also become a security risk for SIPA, or does it only apply to entity officials. If the answer is the latter, why are they doing nothing, absolutely nothing else, in Republika Srpska. Even witness interrogations have been suspended!

SIPA did not disclose who prepared the security assessment, but we learned that the team assembled by Darko Ćulum was of a single nationality – three Serbs assessed the possibility of apprehending Milorad Dodik.

Ćulum appointed Dalibor Milošević, commander of SIPA's Special Support Unit, Pero Božović, his deputy, and Igor Lajić, also from the Special Unit, to the commission.

It is interesting that Ćulum bypassed all Croats and Bosniaks who should have been on this assessment commission. Thus, Goran Tomić, Milošević's assistant, did not conduct the assessment, nor did Senad Zec, head of the Alpha department in the Special Support Unit, which should be assisting in Dodik's apprehension.

Ćulum also bypassed Suad Hasanović, as well as Amer Veiz, who led the Counter-Terrorism Department for years.

This disproportionate team composition can undermine confidence in the process, given the sensitivity of the political context.

Due to the exclusion of Croats and Bosniaks from the team, questions can be raised about the political motives behind this decision. Given the sensitive relations between different ethnic groups in BiH, this can cause additional tensions and doubts about SIPA's political neutrality.