A new report from the European Commission calls for urgent measures for the judiciary – Vetting procedures are the only solution

TI BiH believes that it is high time to put the judiciary under special scrutiny with international support and to create an architecture for vetting procedures that will check all judges and prosecutors, their property, knowledge and competencies, and especially their links to corruption and organized crime. .

Banja Luka, 8. October 2020 – A new report from the European Commission (EC) for Bosnia and Herzegovina states that the situation in the judiciary has deteriorated. The report states that reform efforts are meeting with resistance in the judiciary itself, especially in the part related to the determination of conflicts of interest and the verification of property records of judges and prosecutors. It is also stated that there has been a decline in citizens’ trust in the judiciary, and that allegations of corruption against the President of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) have never been investigated. The independence of the judiciary was also undermined by the fact that the president of the HJPC attended political meetings. Similar to the Transparency International in BiH (TI BiH) analysis, the EC concludes that disciplinary proceedings are not dissuasive for judges and prosecutors who commit disciplinary offenses.

TI BiH reminds that on the eve of the Rule of Law Report (“Priebe Report”) with a group of civil society organizations, it proposed a detailed procedure for vetting all judicial office holders. Such a reform effort would involve the introduction of temporary and specialized bodies, composed of independent legal experts, with the participation of international experts. Through several instances, in addition to the right to appeal to judges and prosecutors, they should check all judges and prosecutors on the following aspects: 1) verification of competencies; 2) checking personal backgrounds and links to organized crime / corruption and 3) checking property. The Rule of Law Report mentions vetting procedures as a proposal of civil society, but concludes that this is a last resort that requires special circumstances and that the current state of the judiciary does not yet require such intervention. A little less than a year later, a new EC report concludes that the situation in the judiciary has deteriorated and that urgent measures are needed to ensure integrity and restore citizens’ trust.

TI BiH believes that it is high time to put the judiciary under special scrutiny with international support and to create an architecture for vetting procedures that will check all judges and prosecutors, their property, knowledge and competencies, and especially their links to corruption and organized crime. . TI BiH believes that the problems in the judiciary will not be solved only by the new Law on the HJPC, or other measures of a milder nature, such as the training of judges and prosecutors. And that is mostly because such and similar efforts are obstructed from within. Political pressures and political appointments in the judiciary have captured this sector, and made it immune to all reform efforts to date. TI BiH proposes that international actors immediately initiate the creation of preconditions for the establishment of vetting procedures in order to establish as soon as possible a mechanism that will free the judiciary from political influences and links to corruption.

Press rls-08.10.20