Criminal charges of TI BiH against Milorad Dodik for wiretapping the opposition

TI BiH notes that Milorad Dodik openly admitted that he was establishing elements of a totalitarian state by eavesdropping on his political opponents. In addition to allegations of unauthorized wiretapping of the opposition, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH must investigate allegations that paraintelligence structures have been created in BiH, headed by the entity Minister of Police Dragan Lukac.

Banja Luka, 21. May 2020 – Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) has filed a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina against Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency Member Milorad Dodik on suspicion of committing the criminal offense of Unauthorized Eavesdropping and Sound or Optical Recording. Dodik is on the 13th. At a special session of the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska, he stated at the rostrum that he was listening to opposition representatives by phone, that every government was listening to the opposition, and recounted the content of telephone conversations of opposition members. He also stated that the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Srpska, Dragana Lukac, was delivering all that to him, and he asked him to confirm his allegations.

Supervision and technical recording of telecommunications are among the special investigative actions, and their approval requires court approval. It is a criminal procedure institute that is applied under exceptional circumstances, and in which a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina has no competence, as well as the entity Minister of the Interior. In addition, the Intelligence and Security Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (OBA) is responsible for collecting intelligence related to security threats to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and may submit such information to the Presidency of BiH (collectively). These data can refer to security threats, such as terrorism and organized crime, and certainly should not refer to opposition political activity. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republika Srpska does not have the authority to collect intelligence, and that is why the statement of Milorad Dodik that he received data from the supervised conversations from the Minister of Internal Affairs Dragan Lukac is worrying.

This is not the first time that Milorad Dodik has threatened in his political speeches. TI BiH has already filed criminal charges against him for statements in appearances and at party rallies in the election campaign for the 2018 General Elections, in which threats were made to pensioners, health workers, RiTE Gacko workers and other voters, in order to gain support in the elections . To date, no prosecution has opened an investigation against him.

TI BiH notes that this time Milorad Dodik openly admitted that he was establishing elements of a totalitarian state by illegally eavesdropping on his political opponents. In addition to allegations of unauthorized wiretapping of opposition representatives, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH must investigate allegations that paraintelligence structures have been created in BiH, headed by the entity Minister of Police Dragan Lukac.

Press rls 21.05.2020.