Delayed justice is injustice: Is the BiH Prosecutor's Office bypassing Dalida Burzić?

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

---

Prolonged court proceedings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, most often due to shortcomings in the judicial system, lead to systemic violations of citizens' rights, it was stated during the presentation of the "Guide – Trial within a Reasonable Time" created in cooperation between the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the AIRE Centre for the Western Balkans.

Simply put – delayed justice is injustice, which is why today's arrests in the case of Dženan Memić's murder raise a number of questions. It is unclear, despite some unofficial announcements, why only Zijad Mutap and police officer Hasan Dupovac, former heads of the Sarajevo Canton MUP for traffic investigations, have been arrested.

Dupovac was the Head of the Traffic Investigations Department at the time of Dženan Memić's murder, as well as the person who took a statement from Alisa Mutap, Dženan Memić's former girlfriend, in the presence of her parents, whose father Zijad was arrested today.

Therefore, we have waited for more than four years for things to move forward, and the people who should have been arrested right at the beginning in 2016 have been arrested. Why are judge Dalida Burzić, the then Chief Prosecutor, whose orders the police acted upon, not among the persons being investigated?

The accomplices in this heinous act of covering up and hiding the truth from the family have not abandoned their claims that it was a traffic accident.

Muriz Memić, Dženan's father, told Patria today that he calls for Sabina Sarajlija's resignation because she is an accomplice, and he believes Dalida Burzić should be suspended.

"In some of her statements, she said she knew what the decision of the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina would be. After today's searches and detentions, I expect Dalida Burzić to be suspended until everything is clarified.

She can no longer perform her duties as a judge. Even when she was appointed, a disciplinary procedure was pending against her, which was concluded very quickly," says Memić.

Hence the fear and distrust towards today's events, because the Prosecutor's Office of BiH does not enjoy public trust. Given the statement that delayed justice is injustice, the public rightly expects a comprehensive and systemic investigation, because injustice has already been done, even if and when the truth is established. No one involved should remain 'untouched'.
Someone will have to answer the questions why the family, amidst all the tragedy, had to go through judicial hell and feel the system that protects the powerful on their own skin.

I remind you that Dženan Memić sustained injuries under still unexplained circumstances on the night of February 8, 2016, while in the company of Alisa Mutap.
He died on February 15, 2016, at the University Clinical Centre Sarajevo.

In two court proceedings, Ljubo and Bekrija Seferović, who were accused of causing a traffic accident, were acquitted of the charges. A decision from the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is still awaited on the appeal of the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office.

Now we are also waiting for the Prosecutor's Office of BiH; if they do not do their job properly, they too will be accomplices in the tragedy of the Memić family, whose story has gone around the world.