Council of Ministers of BiH paralyzes three police agencies: Committee for appeals of police officers not yet appointed

(Patria) - As of December 16, there is no Committee for appeals of police officers, and the appointment of a new Committee is not on the agenda of the next session of the Council of Ministers of BiH scheduled for December 29.

The appointment did not happen at the last session because the parties of the Trojka (Trio) coalition did not agree on one of the proposed names, so no vote was taken.

According to Patria's information, out of the seven members of the Committee, three are Bosniaks, and four are from the Serb and Croat communities. The same was the case in the previous two mandates. The rule is that five members must be lawyers.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH proposed lawyer Ada Hasečić, the Ministry of Justice proposed Boris Jukić, Ljubiša Pandurević was selected from SIPA and this will be his third term on the Committee. Both proposed candidates from the Serb and Croat nations will join from the BiH Border Police, one Bosniak from DKPT, while the Ministry of Security of BiH proposed Ermin Pešta, who should also be the president of the Committee for appeals of police officers.

Given the importance of this Committee, the Council of Ministers of BiH has, by not appointing new members, halted processes in police agencies such as promotions, disciplinary proceedings, or other decisions that can be appealed, because there is no one to decide on the appeals.

The Committee for appeals of police officers decides on appeals within 30 days of receiving the appeal, except for appeals against decisions on suspension, which it decides on within three days.

Decisions of the Committee for appeals of police officers are final and must be implemented without delay, although they can be subject to judicial review in accordance with the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and are delivered within eight days of their adoption.

In recent months, there has been public discussion about personnel capacities in three state agencies due to retirements. Now, even if the directors of SIPA, BiH Border Police, and DKPT could announce competitions for promotions, candidates have no one to appeal decisions to, which makes the competition itself meaningless.