Supreme Court of the FBiH Rejected Request for Extraordinary Review of Court Decision: Šut, Milešić and Mulić Were in Conflict of Interest

(Patria) - The Supreme Court of the Federation of BiH, at its session held on 12 June 2025, rejected the request for extraordinary review of the court decision against the ruling of the Cantonal Court in Zenica regarding the dismissal of Enisa Mulić, Ranislav Milešić and Semir Šut from their positions as members of the Independent Board for the Selection and Review of the Police Commissioner of the Zenica-Doboj Canton.

The Assembly of the Zenica-Doboj Canton dismissed Enisa Mulić, Ranislav Milešić and Semir Šut on 30 January 2024 after it was established that they were in a conflict of interest, even though they had submitted certified statements of no conflict of interest regarding the work of the administration and police of the Ministry of Interior.

Mulić, Milešić and Šut filed a request for the protection of freedoms and rights of individuals guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federation of BiH, considering that their rights were violated because the dismissal procedure involved a series of procedural violations and no possibility of legal remedy was left.

The Cantonal Court in Zenica found, and the Supreme Court of the FBiH confirmed by its judgment, that the requests were unfounded and that the Assembly of the Zenica-Doboj Canton did not violate the complainants' constitutionally guaranteed right to equality before the law and that it acted in accordance with the Constitution of the ZDC and the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, with proper application of the provisions of the Law on Internal Affairs, i.e., that through the Commission for Elections and Appointments, as its authorized body, it initiated the procedure for establishing facts relevant to making a correct and lawful decision regarding the determination of the existence of a conflict of interest prescribed by Article 27 of the Law on Internal Affairs of the Zenica-Doboj Canton.

The reasoning of the judgment states that the Commission for Elections and Appointments established a conflict of interest for Mulić, Milešić and Šut, because Enisa Mulić's husband is an employee of the Police Administration of the MUP, Ranislav Milešić's son is also an employee of the Police Administration, while Semir Šut, at the time of submitting the statement of no conflict of interest, was the director of the company Connecta d.o.o. Sarajevo, with which the MUP ZDK had concluded a framework agreement for vehicle repair services.

The Court notes that the applicants for the extraordinary review of the court decision did not submit to the first-instance court any valid evidence proving that during the relevant period of the competition procedure for the appointment of members of the Independent Board they were not in a conflict of interest regarding the work of the Police Administration and the Ministry of Interior. Ranislav Milešić did not dispute that his son Saša Milešić has been employed in the Police Administration of the MUP ZDK since 18 July 2022, Enisa Mulić did not dispute that her husband Amir Mulić has been employed in the Police Administration of the MUP ZDK since 1 September 2011, nor did Semir Šut dispute in the court proceedings that during the relevant period he held the position of responsible person - director in the company "CONNECTA" d.o.o. Sarajevo, with which the MUP ZDK had concluded a framework agreement for vehicle repair services for the period from 26 May 2021 to 26 May 2023.

The Court states that the applicants unfoundedly believe that there were a series of procedural violations of the provisions of the procedure, because from the state of the case file it is unequivocally concluded that the competent Commission for Elections and Appointments of the Assembly of the Zenica-Doboj Canton, in accordance with the Assembly's Rules of Procedure, conducted a preliminary procedure and collected facts and evidence on the basis of which the existence of a conflict of interest for the applicants as members of the Independent Board was unequivocally established.

- Having regard to the above, it follows that the assessment of the first-instance court is correct that in the procedure of adopting the Decision of the Assembly of the Zenica-Doboj Canton, by which the applicants were dismissed from the position of members of the Independent Board in accordance with the cited regulations, due to the existence of a conflict of interest, there was in no way a violation of their rights to equality before the law and the right to prohibition of any discrimination ... guaranteed by the cited provisions of the Constitution of the FBiH. For all the above reasons, this Court also assessed the other allegations for extraordinary review of the contested decision, as well as the opponent's response to the request seeking the rejection of the request for protection of freedoms and rights, as unfounded (the first-instance court already correctly assessed them in the reasoning of the contested ruling) - concludes the Supreme Court of the FBiH.