Prosecutors in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated part are considering whether the case of the controversial death of David Dragicevic, which has sparked months-long protests in Banja Luka, should be transferred to the State Prosecutors Office, the head of the body overseeing the work of Bosnia’s judiciary said on Friday.
Milan Tegeltija, the head of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC), said this after he met with members of a commission that oversees the efficiency of the prosecutors offices in Republika Srpska (RS), Bosnia’s Serb-dominated semi-autonomous entity, as well as with Mahmut Svraka, the Chief Prosecutor of the RS Public Prosecution Office, and Zelimir Lepir, Chief Prosecutor at the Prosecution Office in Banja Luka, the RS’s administrative centre.
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The HJPC condemned statements Bosnian Serb leader and Serb member of the country’s tripartite Presidency, Milorad Dodik, made on Thursday, when he said he would call for protests if the case is not solved within two months.
Tegeltija called on all political actors to refrain from making statements “that question the integrity and independence of the judiciary” when they criticise it.
He said the HJPC was informed during the meeting about the state of the case.
Prosecutors should not be pressured by politicians or by the public as only in this way they can professionally do their job, Tegeltija said.
“Although sometimes it appears that they take a long time, those cases are often very complicated and difficult and everybody needs to understand that prosecutors can’t serve solutions on a platter,” he said, citing objective and subjective difficulties prosecutors face.
He said the Banja Luka Prosecutor's Office has hit a wall regarding the Dragicevic case and has therefore decided to ask state prosecutors to get involved.
