Collapse of the Rule of Law: Prosecutor Concealed Witness Statements

BiH, (Patria) - At the Court of BiH, a trial is underway against Mensur Đakić, wartime commander of the 1st Battalion of the 108th Brčanska Brigade, and fighter Begzad Kajtazi for the alleged murder of three civilians during a military attack operation on the settlement of Bukvik. Osman Mulahalilović, the defense attorney, has been seeking for months a recording of an interview Đakić gave on September 15, 1992, in his capacity as battalion commander of the 108th Brčanska Brigade, Patria reports.

According to the repeatedly stated opinion of the defense, the recording will show that Đakić is innocent and that the key witness testimony of the Prosecution will be immediately refuted, rendering further proceedings unnecessary.

Then began the saga of whether the recording exists or not.

The Court sent a letter to the Ministry of Defense of BiH, which then authorized the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces to obtain the requested documentation from the competent archival depot, copy it, certify it, and return it to the Ministry of Defense of BiH for further action. It was stated that such a document exists and is easily accessible. 

Immediately thereafter, on December 6, the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces submitted a Report stating that „only two clerks are temporarily assigned to the archival depot, who are unable to perform an inspection of the archival materials in the capacity of investigators.“     

 „It is quite difficult to find that request,“ it was said. The video material suddenly became unavailable, and the archivists became „temporary clerks who have no access to such material.“  

The defense warns that „it is obvious that many ugly things are happening behind the scenes of this trial against Mensur Đakić.“ The provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of BiH, in Article 14, prescribe equality in proceedings: „The court, prosecutors, and other authorities are obliged to examine and establish with equal attention both the facts incriminating the suspect, i.e., the accused, and those that are in their favor.“

The criminal proceedings were again seriously contaminated during the hearing held on February 2, 2018. The defense attorney Osman Mulahalilović proved that prosecutor Miroslav Janjić had concealed a record from October 7, 2013, in this case. This concerns a statement given by the key prosecution witness Ševket Lubinović, who was previously a protected witness under the code „M1“.

During the examination on September 11, 2017, Lubinović „blurted out,“ revealing that there were additional records of his testimony that the defense had not known existed until then. Crucially, two records were not listed in the indictment, and attorney Mulahalilović only learned of them during the trial. Thus, the prosecutor had simply concealed these records. On October 3, 2017, Mulahalilović contacted the Prosecutor's Office of Brčko District, and they informed him that, in addition to the two records from February 2, 2006, and September 11, 2007, there was also a record of an interview from October 7, 2013, in the case against Mensur Đakić. The Brčko Prosecutor's Office confirmed that this record had been submitted to the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.   

Finally, on February 2, the Court of BiH asked prosecutor Janjić about the record from October 7, 2013. Confronted with the evidence, Janjić handed that record over to Mulahalilović.

Mulahalilović then insisted that prosecutor Janjić answer whether a fifth record of witness Lubinović's interview exists in the Prosecutor's Office of BiH. He was told it does not.                   

„So, the indictment lists three statements by Lubinović, and then during the trial, it emerges that there are two more statements, which are hidden and not provided to the defense, which is a violation of the Criminal Procedure Code of BiH.“ Lubinović had, in fact, given five different and contradictory statements. „He is unfortunately a key witness, turning this trial into the most ordinary construction of lies.“  

At one time, prosecutor Miroslav Janjić filed a criminal complaint against acting Chief Prosecutor Gordana Tadić for inefficient work on war crimes cases, but he soon withdrew the complaint. What will the Chief Prosecutor do after these compromising details about Janjić's work?

People from the international community, who care about the progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina, are increasingly doubting that it is precisely in the judiciary that serious obstacles to progress are being demonstrated, making this state a hostage to corruption and crime.  /S.O./