The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina has refused to publish an indictment against Dragan Mektic and others

Due to the great public interest in this case, as well as the process of confirming the indictment, TI BiH requested complete information, but the Prosecutor’s Office claims that there is no public interest in this case.

Banja Luka, 5. February 2020. – The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Prosecutor’s Office of BiH) rejected the request of Transparency International in BiH to submit a copy of the indictment against former BiH Minister of Security Dragan Mektic and others charged with abuse of office or authority. Due to the great public interest in this case, as well as the process of confirming the indictment, TI BiH requested complete information, but the Prosecutor’s Office claims that there is no public interest in this case.

“After the examination of the public interest in the sense of Article 9. The Law on Freedom of Access to Information has determined that publishing the requested information is not in the public interest, “reads the response of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH. It also states that publishing this information “would cause significant damage to legitimate goals, which include the prevention of crime and any detection of crime.”

TI BiH is monitoring this case as part of the monitoring of corruption trials in BiH, and this is the first time since the beginning of the monitoring that one prosecutor’s office refused to submit a copy of the indictment. The Prosecution has invoked similar arguments in the past when it has repeatedly denied requests from TI BiH to provide information from completed trials, or information on whether an indictment has been filed in the Bosnalijek case. The Court of BiH then accepted the lawsuits of TI BiH in both cases, concluding that the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH did not properly conduct the public interest test, that information on criminal proceedings is usually a public good and that judicial authorities are obliged to submit it even when there is an exception if justified by law. public interest. Despite the established case law, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH persistently refuses to provide all information on criminal proceedings without appreciating the public interest, and without conducting a public interest test.

Press rls 5.2.2020.

Indictment Mektić Decision Prosecutor’s Office of BiH