Low blow strategy of High judicial and prosecutorial council BiH

By: Sead Omeragic

Nomination of Ranko Debevec as the President of BiH Court has created a serious problem relating to equal national representation in BH judiciary. SDA strongly reacted and rightly so, by saying that there are no Bosniaks on the leading positions in BiH judiciary.  

To tell the truth, the most competent candidate in the entire selection process was Dalida Burzic. She has the right to feel unfairly treated in the process.

Professional path of at least two Bosniak candidates was richer than that of Ranko Debevec. The key person of this dubious appointment was Milan Tegeltija, the president of the High judiciary and prosecutorial council (VSTV). As usual, he sought an excuse in the story about 'judiciary independence'.

Tegeltija is known to the public as someone who led dubious processes at the Basic Court in Banja Luka, which were by and large damaging to the rule of law and dignity of the judiciary.

When the chief disciplinary prosecutor, Arben Murtezic, came to the highest position of VSTV, he tried to conceal that a criminal charge was filed against Tegeltija for involvement in criminal act worth several million KM.

Just before his appointment as the president of VSTV, Tegeltija was freed of charges by the disciplinary prosecutor. The RS opposition openly talks about Tegeltija as 'Dodik's man'. Perhaps that's how he showed up at the secessionist event marking the Day of RS. There are dozens of compromising details from Tegeltija's opus, and that is why it is so difficult to accept the fact that he sits at the top of the council that decides the fate of judiciary and this country.

Owing to the persons such as Tegeltija, the independence of judiciary is one of the most tragic phrases one can hear in public. Two years ago, the RS blackmailed and threatened with boycotting the state institutions if Tegeltija was not going to be appointed to the position of VSTV chief. National endangerment of the Serbs was far greater than Bosniaks are endangered today.

Undoubtedly, political parties have been interfering in the work of judiciary for years. It is absurd to condemn SDA today for jeopardizing independence of judiciary while the constitution and the principle of national representation are the ones being seriously jeopardized. The latter principle stipulated in the constitution and the Election law of BiH, has been practiced, yet it has not been regulated by a special law, as that will soon be deemed necessary thing to do.

There has been a battle going on for years, for installing judges and prosecutors dear to certain political parties. How come that nobody from SDA noticed that SNSD and HDZ throw into VSTV the personnel with Bosniak names only, yet who are committed to antiBosniak interests and ruining this country. How could else Tegeltija gain majority of votes for his candidate Debevec? That's how in Brcko, a man who slapped a Serb prisoner gets a bigger prison sentence than a Serb woman who was torturing and murdering Bosniaks and Croats in the monstrous concentration camp 'Luka'.

It is by those kinds of decisions that the principle of judiciary independence gets violated. Court trials biased by ethnic discrimination jeopardize the reputation of the court. A member of VSTV in Brcko had to react in relation to the previously mentioned terribly unfair court trial, yet he seemed to have withdrawn at some point so the verdicts remained unaltered.

And while journalists were writing and alerting the public to the dubious and unfair verdicts of the Brcko courts, SDA, which had a majority at the Assembly of Brcko District, failed to react. They kept silent about numerous verdicts against Bosniaks of Brcko, but also in other parts of BiH.

Dozens of war criminals walked out in peace from BH courtrooms, while VSTV never publicly responded to any possible reactions to such insensible verdicts of release. Unfortunately, SDA regularly kept silent while numerous verdicts brought even more pain to the victims and more damage to the dignity of the judiciary.

God knows what the whole picture may look like after this judicial discrimination of Bosniaks at the leading positions. There is a serious strategy behind all this, which reached its peak with arrests in Orasje for which the Croat side accused only Bosniaks.

The ultimate goal is probably to ruin the legal foundations of this country and to create chaos. It has started long time ago and nobody knows where it may end. That is what one gets when his leaders just sit and watch despair of human fate. We have already experienced what comes after long and 'wise' silence of Bosniaks.