News in English     | 06.03.2020. 18:59 |

Tegeltija's responsibility was the topic of the closed part of HJPC session

FENA Internet

SARAJEVO, March 6 (FENA) - During a total of six hours of the closed part of the two-day session of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC), held on March 4-5, the members solely spoke about the responsibility of the President of the Council, Milan Tegeltija, confirmed two members of that body for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIRN BiH).

At a break during Thursday’s part of the session, Tegeltija told reporters that not one member of the Council considered it necessary to raise the issue of his responsibility for anything he had done in the past and that he still believed that in his statement of February 13, there was nothing controversial or contrary to the Law on the HJPC BiH.

The Council member Goran Nezirović told BIRN BiH that the Council's hours-long debate, closed to the public and journalists, was somewhat of different nature.

“On the contrary, during the two-day session, and a total of six hours of discussion that was unnecessarily closed to the public, we specifically talked about the responsibility of the President of the Council for the statement he made on February 13 and his presence at the February 20 meeting that was held at the Administrative Center of the entity of RS in East Sarajevo,” said Nezirović, adding that Tegeltija was asked to "take responsibility for his actions because he violated the principles of independence and impartiality of the HJPC and the judicial system in general".

“These principles are established, inter alia, by the Law on the HJPC. Subsequently, it was requested that the members of the Council publicly distance themselves from the aforementioned actions of President Tegeltija and label them unacceptable, harmful and contrary to the Law on the HJPC BiH – Nezirović stated.

He explains that Tegeltija's statement is true that none of the HJPC members proposed initiating the procedure for dismissal of the HJPC President, "but during the discussion, several Council members proposed collective resignation of all Council members as one of the possible solutions to present situation."

On Thursday, Tegeltija said at the break of the session that during the session, with eight votes in favor, four against and one abstention, that the conclusions were adopted stating that "the fact that the President of the HJPC BiH received an invitation to a meeting from the Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, and, without consultation with the HJPC Vice-Presidents, he attended that meeting, "and that the Council is an independent body with the task of ensuring independent, impartial and professional judiciary.”

None of the Council members felt it necessary to raise the issue of my responsibility for anything I have done in the past,” Tegeltija said, just a day after the US Embassy stated on its official Twitter profile that BiH representatives should be accountable to citizens, not political parties.

"It is the law - judicial officials must be independent of political interests," said the US Embassy on the matter.

Nezirović stresses that four members voted against the Council's conclusions.

“It is particularly worrying that the President of the HJPC today insists on claims that there is nothing problematic, ambiguous in his statement of February 13, or for that matter, contrary to the Law on the HJPC,” Nezirović told BIRN BiH.

The Council member Slavo Lakić says Tegeltija's "statement to the media does not reflect in its entirety what the essence of the debate was".

“It's one interpretation of the things unraveled. It is true that the dismissal of the president of the HJPC BiH was not requested, but it is also true that we did request for him to take responsibility for his actions,” said Lakić, adding that the closing of the session was contrary to the attitude of some who wanted to speak publicly, but they were outvoted.

The debate at the two-day HJPC session began after the submitted information from President Tegeltija, almost a month after he said he was a representative of Republika Srpska (RS) in this state-level judicial institution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“I am an integral part of the RS Sub-Council and have obligations to the RS, myself and all other members of the RS, therefore we cannot ignore the positions of the RS on this issue, and we cannot prejudge what they will be towards the HJPC,” said Tegeltija on that occasion, answering a question to journalists whether he would abide by the decisions that the RS institutions have made.

Following that statement, he also attended a meeting organized by the BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik and the Council of Ministers Chairman Zoran Tegeltija on the work of the BiH institutions involving the RS officials held in East Sarajevo, organized after the BiH Constitutional Court's decision for which Dodik requested the termination of the mandate of foreign judges in this Court.

BIRN BiH has previously written about judicial experts' opinions that Tegeltija's statements are in direct conflict with the Law on the HJPC.

(FENA) S. R.

Vezane vijesti

HJPC BiH: Unique practice and specialization for cases of domestic violence necessary 

Debevec temporarily suspended as the President of the Court of BiH

HJPC submits request for temporary removal of Ranko Debevec from the post of President of BiH Court

Promo

M:tel: Savršena kombinacija – Huawei telefon i pametni sat s popustom

M:tel: Stiglo nam je Proljeće!

Predstava 'Kako sam se nadala dobro se nisam udala' u BKC Sarajevo