Tegeltija says one thing, does another: Attackers are being investigated, while defenders of the country are being tried!

By Amina Čorbo-Zećo

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Delegates of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly rejected the annual reports of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) for 2017 and 2018. During the debate, delegates pointed to numerous problems within the judiciary. Milan Tegeltija, president of the HJPC, also attended the session and attempted to respond to the numerous remarks and questions from the delegates. As the regulatory body of the judiciary, he should know better, more reliably, without general assessments and platitudes.

Speaking about the prosecution of war crimes, he emphasized that for him, every crime is a crime, and every victim is a victim, and all victims and perpetrators should be treated equally, concluding that this is the only principle he advocates.

It is interesting how Tegeltija knows what suits him and his political mentor, but he does not know how to explain the wave of indictments against Bosniaks, while the A list cases returned from The Hague have not been resolved.

"There is really no room to talk about any ethnic cleansing of Bosniaks from leading positions in the BiH judiciary. Unfortunately, such a perception has been created, which is not substantiated. As for the wave of trials, I cannot speak about that. For me, a war crime is a war crime, and a victim is a victim," said Tegeltija.

If that is the case, why were the attackers, the aggressors, not prosecuted first, and then, if there is evidence, those who defended themselves. There are many such examples, but Ilijaš and Bihać might best illustrate them. Investigations against the attackers are allegedly ongoing, while trials in the Čemerno case and in the case of General Atif Dudaković and others are already well underway. Also, General Ramiz Dreković is being tried for three shells fired at Kalinovik, while no one has yet been held accountable for the thousands fired at Konjic.

Dragan Vikić and Jusuf Pušina are being prosecuted for the crime in Park, and there are no indictments for the shelling of Sarajevo and the thousands of murdered children and civilians.

In the Čemerno case before the Court of BiH, from hearing to hearing, doubts arise about the conduct of the investigation. The defense emphasizes this, so we heard lawyers point out the lack of principle and unlawful taking of statements, with the statement that the investigation in this case was not conducted in accordance with the law.

As stated, those who shelled from Čemerno and committed crimes against Bosniaks should have been questioned and prosecuted first. The prosecutor said that he is already investigating the commanders and soldiers who operated the 122mm howitzers on Čemerno, from which shells were fired that killed people in Breza, Sarajevo, and Visoko. However, there is no indictment.

In the case of Atif Dudaković, things went a step further. During the trial of the legendary Krajina commander of the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, General Atif Dudaković, the presiding judge of the Trial Chamber, Željka Marenić, did not allow the defense attorneys to ask questions related to events in the period 1992-1995, justifying it as "going beyond the scope of the indictment."

Lawyer Ifet Feraget is unsuccessfully trying to explain that he is proving in favor of his own claim that this was a liberation action, but the judge does not want to change her mind.

It should always be reiterated that the siege of Bihać lasted from June 12, 1992, until this operation. Longer than the siege of Stalingrad. During that time, Bihać was shelled very often, and there were many victims, and Serbs lived there who survived all of this together with others.

This is the sole purpose of the defense in this case, that there was no plan and that civilians were not targeted. These are people who died in combat, but who cares anymore.

Tegeltija tells us fairy tales about how he is a pacifist and politically independent. To prove that, he would have to work more on controlling indictments, the validity of evidence, rejecting statements from false witnesses, and controlling compliant prosecutors... Actions, not words. For now, actions speak louder than words, indicating an attempt to equate attackers and defenders, and no one trusts the judiciary anymore.

Such a situation again benefits the destroyers of this country, which is why I truly believe that with the reform of the judiciary, the rule of law will finally come to life in BiH.