CANTONAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE Dugalija for NAP: We have a chronic deficit of prosecutors and staff, fight against corruption and crime remains a priority

(Patria) - The Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office will be left by eight prosecutors at the end of April who are moving to the Federal Prosecutor's Office - Special Department for Combating Corruption, Organized and Inter-Cantonal Crime. This will significantly affect the work of this Prosecutor's Office, which currently has nearly 68,000 cases in progress.

This was also the reason for a conversation with the Chief Cantonal Prosecutor of the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office, Meliha Dugalija.

As she points out for Patria, the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office will certainly face a prosecutor deficit, given that this institution is losing eight prosecutors, including the Deputy Chief Prosecutor for the Department of Economic Crime and Corruption.

“We have had a vacant position for one Deputy Chief Prosecutor and five prosecutors for some time, which will all together mean that after April 30, 2025, the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office will be short two deputies and 12 prosecutors. We will be left with 43 prosecutors, and if we take into account the fact that this institution receives an average of 5 to 6 criminal reports daily and that the influx is constantly increasing, we can conclude that this will be an enormous burden for the prosecutors who remain,” says Dugalija.

The Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office currently has 67,777 cases in various stages against known and unknown perpetrators of criminal offenses.

“This could be a real problem, given that prosecutors are expected to make efficient decisions in cases, which on the other hand is not entirely possible because they have a large number of cases in their docket and must take actions equally in each one, and often this work depends on several links in the chain of proceedings - police, expert witnesses, etc.,” explains the Chief Prosecutor.

After the appointment of these prosecutors to the Special Department, Dugalija sent a letter to the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HJPC BiH) informing them of the new situation, since competitions for the recruitment of new prosecutors are announced precisely by the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“I noted that the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office is losing holders of judicial functions, which could affect work and efficiency, and I requested the priority announcement of a competition and thus the strengthening of the personnel structure. Also, we persist in activities regarding the filling of personnel capacities when it comes to the administration of this prosecutor's office and expect to receive the necessary approvals from the Government of Sarajevo Canton to initiate competition procedures as soon as possible for administrative staff for whom there is a chronic deficit,” states Dugalija.

Although working with a personnel deficit, the prosecutors of this prosecutor's office have in the past period filed seven indictments in cases of organized crime and high-level corruption against 40 persons, and approximately 174 kg of various types of drugs were seized.

“In the past three months, by order of this prosecutor's office, more than 140 persons have been deprived of liberty, and about 300 indictments have been filed for various criminal offenses.”

A recent agreement was signed between the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office, the Police Administration of the Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Interior, and the Office for the Fight against Corruption, and Dugalija believes this represents a significant step in improving efficiency.

“The Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton, the Office for the Fight against Corruption of Sarajevo Canton, and the Police Administration of the Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Interior signed a Memorandum of Cooperation aimed at strengthening the institutional response to corruption.

This agreement represents a significant step in improving the efficiency of the fight against corruption through enhanced coordination and exchange of information among key institutions. It is precisely thanks to the memorandum that an operation was recently carried out to deprive individuals of liberty for corrupt criminal offenses, where everyone in the chain acted proactively in accordance with their authorities. Therefore, for every successful investigation, timely, quality communication and coordination between prosecutors and police officers is necessary in order to document a particular case as thoroughly as possible and reach a proper prosecutorial decision.

The Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office has exceptionally good cooperation with the Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Interior and the Office for the Fight against Corruption. The signed memorandum represents a mechanism for intensifying cooperation between three key institutions focused on the fight against corruption in Sarajevo Canton with a clear goal of fighting all forms of corruption, in the interest of citizens and the rule of law,” concluded Dugalija in an interview with Patria.