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SARAJEVO, May 17 (FENA) - Statement by Ružica Jukić, a member of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH (HJPC) and its Vice-President, in which Jukić stated that she "condemns the actions of the United States Embassy" and that the “US Embassy is interfering in the work of the judiciary in BiH by meeting with third-rate officials…” constitutes a reckless and inappropriate behavior of a judge, who, as a member of the HJPC, should advocate for the strengthening of the judiciary and its independence, and in an tempt to reach these goals, she should support of all well-intentioned stakeholders for that matter, it is in a nutshell a message of a press release issued by the Presidency of the Association of Judges of the FBiH (USFBiH) in response to a statement by the HJPC Vice-President Ružica Jukić for the N1 TV, which was also reported by other media on the occasion of a recent meeting held in the US Embassy attended by judges Branko Perić and Goran Nezirović, and Prosecutor Tomislav Ljubić.
“The FBiH Association of Judges, as well as other associations of judges and prosecutors in BiH, in its establishment in 1996/97, as well as in the following period, have received long-standing support from the Association of Lawyers for Central European and Eurasian Legal Initiative - ABBA CEELI, which helped the domestic staff in upgrading professional standards, the need for further associating in order to protect these standards, and developing awareness of the need for greater involvement of judges and prosecutors in establishing a new, revised system of independent and impartial judiciary,” it is said in the statement.
Ružica Jukić, Vice-President of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC), the body that monitors the work of BiH courts and appoints prosecutors and judges, objected to a meeting between US Ambassador Eric Nelson and the Assistant Administrator for USAID’s Bureau for Europe and Eurasia, Brock Bierman, and representatives of the BiH judiciary.
During the meeting last week, Nelson and Bierman discussed potential changes of the law on the HJPC which regulates the election of judges with HJPC member Goran Nezirović, State Court Judge Branko Perić and Chief Prosecutor in the Tuzla Canton, Tomislav Ljubić. The goal of the meeting was to ensure a more transparent election process for judicial officials, in order to strengthen rule of law in the country, stated the US Embassy on that occasion.
In an interview for N1, Jukić said it was “baffling to her that any embassy should discuss the law with any member of the HJPC.”
“No embassy has the right to interfere in the election process of the chief prosecutor or any other judicial position, nor to impose its solutions,” Jukić said.
The Association of Judges in FBiH reminds that this association with the support of ABBA CEELI initiated the reform of the establishment of entity HJPCs (reactions of the Association of Judges in FBiH in 1998 when the judges were elected from the executive power), and then the unification of the entity judicial councils into a single HJPC, which still operates and whose member is Mrs. Jukić who is now serving her second term.
They point out that this is just one example of the US Government's efforts to help domestic enthusiasts from the ranks of judges and prosecutors to work to improve their professional capacities in order to achieve an independent, impartial and professional judiciary.
“This was especially evident when the HJPC Law was adopted, establishing an independent body (HJPC) whose task was to prevent the influence of politics on the process of election and appointment of judges and prosecutors, to provide fair and just disciplinary proceedings against judges and prosecutors, as well as the procedure for dismissal from the judicial and prosecutorial function,” the statement reads.
The Association also recalls that the US Government, with its projects of various trainings, prevention and protection of judges and prosecutors from corruption in the judiciary ... and also with financial support to restoring infrastructure in the judiciary, has made a remarkable contribution.
“However, by reducing its participation over the past ten years, probably by assessing that we have sufficiently enhanced our capacities with competent and professional staff to independently continue to maintain this new reformed system, unfortunately, a sort of a vacuum remains in which the system has been proven to be incomplete, or there was not enough time left to build the necessary personnel capacities, because in practice, incompetence and lack of professionalism were recognized not only in the courts and prosecutors' offices, but also in the body that was supposed to be the carrier of the continuation of reforms,” stresses the Association.
Thus, we have had a decline in public confidence in the judiciary in the entire territory of BiH.
“But, decline of public confidence in the judiciary throughout BiH has been a primary responsibility of the HJPC with all former and current members, but this does not justify a professional community as a whole that has not worked hard enough through the general sessions in the courts, as well as in colleges in the prosecutor's offices."
The Association of Judges in FBiH considers that numerous associations (including the Association itself), are to be also held accountable, as they have not taken a united stance to defend their professional standards in sufficient number, even when it comes to the election of HJPC members.
“To this end, we must underline that we support greater involvement of the European Commission, as well as the embassies of the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France and all well-intentioned external and internal stakeholders, especially in the context of widespread debate on the Amendments to the HJPC Law, noting that the HJPC, even in the case of drafting its proposal for amending the Law on HJPC submitted to the BiH Ministry of Justice, did not conduct a wide discussion in the professional community, and therefore, the Association of Judges in FBiH, although on several occasions it has expressed willingness to cooperate in these activities, had no opportunity to do so,” it is said in the statement of the FBiH Judges Association.
(FENA) S. R.
