(VIDEO) Attorney Čović for Patria: Why are there no indictments for the siege of Sarajevo and what are the controversial SKY evidence?

(Patria) - In an interview for our portal, attorney Lejla Čović openly discusses the state of the judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina, unprocessed war crimes, and current scandals such as the "Sky" application.

Interviewed by: Amina Čorbo - Zećo

Čović particularly emphasizes that even after three decades, there are no indictments for the siege of Sarajevo, although evidence has already been collected and used before the Hague Tribunal against Generals Stanislav Galić and Dragomir Milošević.

"All that evidence is publicly available, certified with Hague seals, but the BiH Prosecutor's Office does not react. That is a shameful fact," Čović points out, adding that the families of victims have been receiving only the answer that "investigations are ongoing" for years.

Speaking about the Sky and Ana applications affair, Čović explains that these are encrypted communications that were massively hacked abroad and then handed over to prosecutor's offices in the region. While in Western countries these messages serve as a starting point for investigations, in BiH, she says, they are often used as the main and only evidence. "The Prosecutor's Office bases indictments solely on these messages, without supporting evidence. This creates a hype about major investigations, but in essence, mostly cases related to marijuana transport are prosecuted, while high-level corruption is absent," she explains.

Čović also warns about serious legal issues: mass surveillance of citizens without court orders, selective use of evidence, and the leaking of messages to the media from within the Prosecutor's Office itself. "Unfortunately, all this shows that our judiciary is not independent and is often guided by political, not legal criteria," she concludes.

Watch the full interview