Judges in Bosnia’s semi-autonomous Republika Srpska (RS) entity backed on Wednesday the head of the country’s top judicial institution who accused the intelligence service of spying on him after an audio recording surfaced in which he allegedly can be heard discussing the appointment of a sister of a former colleague to the post of judge.
Milan Tegeltija is the head of Bosnia’s High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC), which appoints judges and prosecutors.
RELATED NEWS
According to Istraga.ba, the conversation featured in the recording was between him and former HJPC member Miljana Buha who insisted on the appointment of her sister as a judge in the Banja Luka court. Tegeltija can allegedly be heard saying that the “tactic” should be left to him.
Tegeltija denied the accusation and submitted a criminal complaint against unknown individuals “employed in or connected to” Bosnia’s Intelligence-Security Agency (OSA BiH), arguing that they are trying to incriminate him and take over Bosnia’s justice system.
He claims the audio was tampered with and that he was the victim of a continuous, systematic and long-term illegal wiretapping aimed at smearing him and forcing him to resign.
The Association of Judges of Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb-dominated half of the country, issued a statement regarding the “current situation in connection with the illegal surveillance, wiretapping, recording and publishing of illegal and inauthentic content concerning the head of the HJPC BiH and the member of this association, Milan Tegeltija.”
It said that it was distancing itself from previous statements of the joint coordination body of the country’s judges and prosecutors.
The statement said that it was clear that Tegeltia was illegally spied on “which challenges his ability to perform his duties as president of the HJPC BiH as well as of other members and other judges and prosecutors.”
The Association requested this issue to be included in the agenda of the HJPC’s meeting on Thursday as it is “of utmost importance for the safety and lawfulness of the work of judicial officials.”
No judge or prosecutor in the country can feel safe in executing his duties after this, the statement said, adding that Tegeltija was the victim of a criminal act and that the recording can not be used as evidence as it was obtained in an illegal way.
”To expect an investigation into the responsibility of a victim of a crime is contrary to every principle of the rule of law and human rights and freedom,” the statement concluded.
