The report noted that senior politicians and other influential figures, who often attacked the court when they themselves happened to be under investigation or on trial for malfeasance, had increased the incidences of this dramatically in 2009.
Some of the more egregious examples cited in the report included:
• The RS government’s claim that its failure to hand over documents the state prosecutor had requested for an alleged abuse of office investigation, was justified because the prosecutor had no jurisdiction over the alleged offenses.
• RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik’s denunciation of a criminal report on him that was given to the state prosecutor. He claimed the report was a plot orchestrated by “the foreigners” to get rid of the RS.
• Dodik’s other attacks in the media that have accused the court and prosecutor’s office of being anti-Serb, because the court had not handed down indictments in several cases involving alleged war crimes against Serbs.
The report was clear in its assessment of the atmosphere. “At best, such accusations are wholly unsubstantiated by evidence of misconduct by judicial officials…At worst they represent a clear interference in the aforementioned ongoing criminal investigations. Due to their content and source, these statements are intended to affect unduly how the judges and prosecutors are handling the proceedings in question.”
The organization recommended that the court, the prosecutors’ office and the country’s judicial oversight body all receive constitutional status, to guarantee not only their independence, but also their place among the executive and legislative branches of government. The OSCE also recommended that Bosnian politicians do more to respect and protect the court, particularly the organized crime and corruption section.
-- Beth Kampschror