Bosnia's Justice Minister Josip Grubesa told N1 Tuesday he expects the top judicial official Milan Tegeltija to resign on Thursday following the latest affair rocking the country's judiciary.
“I'm not the one to say whether Tegeltija should or shouldn't resign, but I expect that he will. What we need to do now is try to find a legal solution to all the issues concerning the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because after Milan resigns, some other Milan will take his place. Milan's not the issue here, the issue is the law,” Grubesa said.
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A Bosnian investigative journalism portal Istraga.ba released an audio recording last month allegedly featuring the head of the HJPC which appoints and sanctions all judges and prosecutors in the country, discussing the possibility of naming the sister of a former member of the Council to the post of Judge in the Banja Luka Basic Court.
According to the portal, the conversation featured in the recording was between him and former HJPC member Miljana Buha.
The portal also added that Buha insisted on the appointment of her sister, Sanja Cegar, and that Tegeltija can allegedly be heard saying that the “tactic” should be left to him.
Both Tegeltija and Buha denied the allegations in statements for N1, arguing that the recording proves the opposite – that they agreed such an appointment would be a conflict of interest.
Grubesa claims that Bosnia's judiciary is “an independent centre of power.”
“People working in the judiciary will forgive me for saying this because I'm their Minister and I'll always protect them, but our judiciary should be on the side of the state. I'm not saying the state should have control over its judiciary, but that branch needs to answer to someone,” Bosnia's Justice Minister said.
In his opinion, had an HJPC member of some other western country been caught jaywalking, they would have resigned.
“But we're talking about Bosnia here, and that's why I say we must find a legal solution within our country which will define these things,” Grubesa pointed out.
In his opinion, Tegeltija was wrong to meet with political leaders adding that he has no idea whom the president of the HJPC answers to.
Grubesa added that the HJPC should be divided into two separate departments – judicial and prosecutorial because it is not right that judges, prosecutors and attorneys should elect all the judges and prosecutors in the country.
