High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council Hides Names of Sanctioned Judges

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Last year, five judges and one prosecutor in Bosnia and Herzegovina were punished for professional misconduct, although they had previously received disciplinary measures.

A disciplinary lawsuit was filed against one judge, who had been punished three times, but the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) is hiding all these names from the public. They rejected the request of Transparency International in BiH (TIBiH) to provide this information from proceedings that have been legally concluded, even though, according to the law, they can only keep it confidential while the proceedings are ongoing. Therefore, it is impossible to determine who was punished and why, and the HJPC's explanation is that these are matters of a confidential nature, writes transparentno.ba, the TIBiH portal.

"It was decided that the protection of the HJPC's decision-making process in disciplinary cases, as well as its core activities, is primary in relation to the public interest," the HJPC's decision states.

TIBiH filed an appeal against the HJPC's decision, signed by president Milan Tegeltija, because this is information of public interest, and no legal basis was provided for withholding this information from citizens.

"Due to this approach, it is impossible to adequately monitor the work of the judiciary, conduct analyses, and demand public accountability from judicial office holders. An additional reason is that during 2018, the Disciplinary Prosecutor's Office determined that some judges, among other things, used their position to gain undue benefit for themselves or others, had inappropriate contact with a party to the proceedings, intentionally provided false information, and damaged the reputation of the judicial office," the text states.

Because of this, they add, as well as numerous other omissions, 29 disciplinary measures were imposed on judges and prosecutors, but the HJPC is hiding their names and specific information about the committed offenses.

"Seven judicial office holders were punished with a written reprimand which is not publicly disclosed, and ten with a public reprimand, in which again neither who was reprimanded nor why is disclosed. Nine judicial office holders were punished with a salary reduction, two with dismissal, and one with a special measure. Even data on which institution the sanctioned judges and prosecutors work for are not available to the public, and only final decisions in disciplinary proceedings are available on the HJPC website, but in an anonymized form. Only the initials of the judicial office holders are listed there, although there are no legal obstacles for their names to be published," the text says.

TIBiH believes that such a practice by the HJPC undermines the institution of disciplinary responsibility and the principle of public access to the work of the judiciary, as data is hidden from the public as confidential, even though there is nothing confidential in decided cases against judges and prosecutors. Invoking confidentiality only casts doubt on the regulatory bodies and the entire judicial community and reduces the already low public trust.