prijava
SARAJEVO, July 21 (FENA) - Transparency International in BiH filed a complaint to the Disciplinary Prosecutor's Office against the Chief Prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor's Office, Milanko Kaganić, who during the past year assigned most of the cases outside the TCMS automatic management system, which is exactly the reason his predecessor in this position, Gordana Tadić, was dismissed from duty.
The Prosecutor's Office of BiH, after the appeal procedure, submitted to Transparency International the data on the number of cases in which the chief prosecutor carried out case assignments, that is, assigned cases outside the automatic management system, and the data show that in 2022, the number of assignments is greater than the total number of cases that this prosecution had in operation.
This practically means that TCMS is rarely used and subjects are hardly assigned automatically.
Specifically, in 2021, in which Gordana Tadić was dismissed due to the circumvention of the TCMS, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH had 1,499 cases and a total of 1,434 assignments, with a note that multiple assignments are possible in one case where several prosecutors are working on it.
During 2022, the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina had 1473 cases in its work and a total of 2276 assignments, i.e. cases in which the chief prosecutor chose the prosecutor who will deal with the specific case outside of the automatic management system.
TI BiH reminds that Article 8 of the Rulebook on the System for Automatic Case Management in Prosecutor's Offices (TCMS) stipulates that the distribution of cases to prosecutors is done automatically because this way corrupt risks are reduced.
Also, by the conclusion of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2014, all chief prosecutors were tasked to ensure the assignment of cases through TCMS in their institutions.
The chief prosecutor has the right to assign a case to another prosecutor if there are reasons for it, but if it is taken into account that this is an exception and not a rule, the fact that the number of assignments is greater than the total number of cases in the work may indicate serious omissions in the work of the chief prosecutor.
Also, there is a reason to suspect that the Chief Prosecutor of BiH acted contrary to the provisions of the Rulebook and the Conclusion of the HJPC and committed the disciplinary offenses of "negligence or inattention in the performance of official duties" and "failure, for unjustified reasons, to act in accordance with the decisions, orders or requests of the Council" from the Law on the HJPC.
This behavior is contrary to the provisions of the Code of Ethics for prosecutors, and it should also be recalled the Joint Opinion of the Venice Commission and the Council of Europe - Directorate for Human Rights (DHR) of the General Directorate for Human Rights and the Rule of Law, in which it is emphasized that the assignment of cases within courts and prosecutor's offices should follow an objective, predetermined criteria, in order to protect the right to independent and impartial judicial and prosecutorial action.
Transparency International BiH reminds that the Disciplinary Commission of the HJPC of BiH has already conducted and legally concluded disciplinary proceedings against the former chief prosecutor Gordana Tadić as well as against some other chief prosecutors in BiH for the same offenses in which disciplinary measures were imposed.
The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina repeatedly refused to provide TI BIH with data on the number of case assignments, so in 2018 and 2019, they claimed that they did not keep accurate statistics, so the information was submitted only after the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina handed down judgments in favor of TI BiH.
This year, the Prosecutor's Office submitted data on assigned cases only after a complaint was filed, because the Prosecutor's Office of BiH initially claimed that the request was not precisely formulated, stated TI BiH.
(FENA) S. R.
