Independent judiciary is non-existent and the ones who should run independent institutions enter arrangements, which are eventually turning into “centres of uncontrolled power,” Bosnian state court judge, Branko Peric, said in an interview for N1.

Asked if institutions like the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) and the Central Election Commission (CEC) got out of democratic control, Peric said the state of democracy has been in crisis for quite some time. 

“They defended nothing but keep on misusing their independence. There's more of them. There is the independent regulatory agency for media. They all have serious problems,” Peric noted, commenting on the situation in some of the state institutions.

According to him, members of these bodies are either representatives of political parties or were appointed by them.

“And this is where various interests overlap, both political and some other. But the problem is in the lack of a mechanism of accountability in those institutions. And that makes everything possible,” said the judge of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Speaking of the appointment of a new state chief prosecutor, Peric expressed concern over the regularity of this procedure.

“I think it won't be clean,” he said, assessing as “incomprehensible” that this crucial position in the state judicial institution has been vacant for two years.

“There is no excuse for that,” he added.

Gordana Tadic has been the acting chief prosecutor since September 2016, when then chief prosecutor Goran Salihovic was subjected to a disciplinary procedure for malfeasance in office.

The process proved the charges against Salihovic, and he was dismissed from the position, which left Tadic as his replacement and the main aspirant to the post.

A repeated vacancy procedure for the state chief prosecutor post was announced in August this year. The previous ones were annulled after the HJPC adopted changes to its rules of procedure at the European Commission recommendation.

Peric also commented on the complaints against him that were submitted before the Disciplinary Counsel Office. According to him, the reason behind those complaints was his openly speaking on various issues.

“What can I say. There is a system which sees me as a problem, which took me through a disciplinary procedure, through its mud. That disciplinary complaint was rejected”, said the judge, adding that the complaints were filed because of his “frequent critical reviews on the functioning of the judiciary.”

Judge Peric, who has been working for Bosnian judicial institutions over the past three decades, said he was never threatened for what he did although he worked on severe cases.