CASE DODIK AND ĆULUM: Is the state of Bosnia part of some crazy experiment, and are Bosniaks guinea pigs?

Written by: Amra Vrabac

The mandate of Darko Ćulum at the head of the State Investigation and Protection Agency expired in July 2024. Although his length of service has long been disputed, and according to those familiar with the matter, he currently has as many as 48 years of service, Ćulum applied for another term last year.

However, due to political turmoil, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina never considered the appointment of the SIPA director. Since July last year, the position of deputy director of SIPA has also been vacant following the escape of Zoran Galić.

Then, in March this year, following a political order from the top of the RS, which attacked the constitutional order by passing a series of unconstitutional laws, Ćulum left SIPA by submitting his resignation to the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Due to the specific situation, as presented by the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was not possible to agree only to Ćulum's dismissal because that would invalidate the decision on the transfer of authority to other persons managing SIPA in his absence.

However, Ćulum has now exploited precisely such a legal loophole. Although he was a direct participant in the attack on the constitutional order, acted on the instructions of the political leadership of the RS entity, left his position at SIPA to move to the RS Ministry of Interior, the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina completely amnestied Ćulum from criminal prosecution and left him with a free hand to mock the state.

Thus, Ćulum appeared at work in the SIPA building this morning, according to his own claims.

Regardless of whether Ćulum withdrew his resignation and came to work, neither the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina nor the Independent Board of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina can be amnestied from responsibility in this case.

No political decision can justify the tampering with laws, procedures, and the 700 employees of this state agency. Darko Ćulum must be removed!

Perhaps someone expected his return to provoke an incident among Bosniaks. Perhaps someone even wished for that in these July days. However, one should bear in mind that those same police officers at least tried at the end of April to execute the order of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and arrest Milorad Dodik, while Ćulum was on the side of the RS Ministry of Interior, which opposed SIPA members with threats of weapons and force.

After the disgrace that the Prosecutor's Office and the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina staged on July 4, when Milorad Dodik walked into the courtroom like a star and came out a free man, and the same was repeated on July 9 with Radovan Višković and Nenad Stevandić, whose detention measure was lifted, how can one then expect anyone to bear responsibility in the case of the attack on the constitutional order.

After this turnaround, one can conclude that some, with the help of the international community, were obviously conducting an experiment in which mostly Bosniaks were the guinea pigs or mice on which these experiments are carried out. And precisely in these July days, when we remember and bury the victims of genocide, the judiciary and political masterminds decided to show citizens who the real owners of this state and its institutions are.

In the Ćulum case, all laws were trampled upon, and the absurdity of the existence of the Office for Legislation, the Attorney's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the (In)dependent Board of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the multitude of lawyers who found no way to deal with the destroyer of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to prevent his return to the position of director, as well as any benefits, was proven. Galić may have fled from the judiciary, but Ćulum mocked it thoroughly. And for that, he would still have the state pay him.

When the SNSD ministers were ready to vote for Ćulum's dismissal immediately after his resignation (March 20), both the HDZ and the parties of the Troika rebelled because, allegedly, SIPA would be left headless. Seeing all this, it would have been better for it to remain headless than for a man who showed "for which state and which president he works" to return to its helm after almost four months.

There are no adequate words to describe the level of incompetence of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also of the Troika, which behaves like a headless chicken. After the "acquittal" of Dodik, the power absolutely held by SNSD and HDZ BiH will only grow stronger. The political factor that should represent and protect the interests of Bosniaks has suffocated in its own ignorance and inability to deal with wolves like Dragan Čović and Milorad Dodik.