HJPC: Judiciary must roll up its sleeves, fight against corruption is a priority

We will do everything to unblock processes, we will work on restoring citizens' trust, adopting and implementing the reform program, on actively fighting corruption – these are some of the priorities of the new leadership of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH. They do not consider their election and work to be illegal or controversial, as their former colleague Milan Tegeltija claimed after his resignation. These are the reasons why the BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik announced that he will consider a potential address to the Constitutional Court of BiH.

The new president of the umbrella judicial institution began his first address to the public with an apology – to the journalists. Was there no time or willingness for journalists' questions after yesterday's election?

“I accept the mistake, it’s human, believe me. I apologize, especially to the colleagues who waited here in the hall yesterday,” said Halil Lagumdžija, president of the HJPC of BiH.

The priorities are numerous. The new leadership promises – they will work on restoring citizens' trust in the judiciary, improving the negative image, and will act in a way that prevents new scandals. The adoption of the HJPC's reform program is also expected.

“We need to be intensive, cooperate with prosecutors and judges, and all together, in simple terms, roll up our sleeves and actively engage in the fight against corruption, which should be a priority at this time,” said Biljana Simeunović, vice-president of the HJPC of BiH.

Emails from a state prosecutor once shook the judicial community. Let us recall, before Biljana Simeunović's election as a new member of the HJPC of BiH, numerous reactions followed, after the portal Istraga published a letter in which the prosecutor claims she was offered to withdraw her candidacy in exchange for the position of chief prosecutor of the District Prosecutor's Office in Bijeljina. After all, she answers…

“How to fight against any pressure… With personal integrity and personal courage,” Simeunović said.

The new leadership of the Council does not believe there will be any legal consequences in the functioning and decision-making of the Council after the resignation of Milan Tegeltija, who previously claimed that everything was illegal. Their former colleague sharply criticizes on social networks the fact that there are no Serbs in leading judicial positions at the BiH level.

“Since former president Meddžida Kreso left the position of president of the Court of BiH, Bosniaks have not had a single representative in those three leadership positions,” Lagumdžija said.

Following the election of the new leadership, the OSCE Mission in BiH emphasizes that the HJPC must be the leader of reforms in the judiciary, reminding them that they play a key role in restoring public trust in judicial institutions.

(N1)