The OSCE's Trial Monitoring of Corruption Cases report for Bosnia found that corruption is widespread in the country but that international partners like the US, EU, and the OSCE are ready to help fight it.

“The US will remain Bosnia's partner in the fight against corruption. Transparency and responsibility are key in this field which is why the US supported the OSCE in the monitoring of corruption trials,” the US Ambassador to Bosnia, Eric Nelson said during Friday's conference presenting the report.

In the past year, the OSCE monitored 300 cases at all court levels, he said. Sarajevo and Tuzla's Cantonal Prosecutions initiated the most mid and high-level corruption cases which is why the Ambassador praised them for their efforts.

Nelson also noted that the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) should appoint judges based on their professional competencies, without political interference.

The Head of OSCE Mission to Bosnia, Ambassador Bruce Berton said the second report contains nine additional recommendations. Out of 15 previous recommendations, they recorded some progress in seven of them.

“The situation in the work of the State Prosecution and the Republika Srpska (RS) entity's Special Prosecutor's department is not good,” Berton said.

Nicolas Bizel, the head of the EU Delegation's Justice and Internal Affairs Department pointed to the need of everyone's involvement in the fight against corruption.

After saying that the EU Delegation is ready to help Bosnia in this fight, Buzel said that Bosnia made little progress over the past year, as evidenced by the small number of final verdicts.

The EU initiated three critical projects in 2019, worth €3.5 million, dealing with all segments of the fight against corruption, from the prevention to penal provisions, he added.

Slavko Lakic, the HJPC member, said that judiciary's response to this phenomenon is still insufficient, especially in the mid and high-level corruption.

The OSCE's report titled Trial Monitoring Of Corruption Cases In Bih: Second Assessment was made within the Assessing Needs Of Judicial Response To Corruption

Through Monitoring Of Criminal Cases (ARC) project, supported by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the US State Department.

The first report was published in February 2018.