Unlike its neighbors, Bosnia and Herzegovina allows convicts to buy out their sentences. So, some Serbian and Croatian convicts who hold Bosnian citizenship come here to avoid prison.
During his 15-year career Banjaluka judge Atko Huseinbašić committed 56 infractions in two courts. It took eight years for HJPC members to finally remove him from office.
They kept evidence in their offices or failed to write verdicts and send convicts to prison, but judges and prosecutors guilty of such mistakes received lenient punishment that didn’t affect their careers. Some of them even won promotions.
Those sentenced to short prison sentences in BiH can buy their way out. Corrupt officials and others have been quick to do this then return to jobs where they broke the law in the first place.
For years, judges and prosecutors have refused to make their asset declarations public. Despite numerous obstructions, resistance, and objections, the Center for Investigative Reporting in Sarajevo has collected some records and is publishing them.
Houses, apartments and business premises of Sarajevo Jews who died in the Holocaust were transferred to new owners, thanks to the illegal rulings of a judge who, in the same way, appropriated two properties in the narrowest part of the city.
Seven years ago attorney Marica Ćulum was sentenced on organized crime charges and should have been debarred. Instead, she’s the most highly paid court-appointed attorney before the Basic Court in Banja Luka.
Courts in BiH spend nearly 11 million KM annually on court-appointed attorneys, most of that going to just several lawyers.
Inmates serving prison time are entitled to temporary unsupervised releases. Some pay guards for such releases.
Jadranko Grčević, president of the Basic Court in Brčko District, received more court-ordered restitution after his inappropriate conversations with a former mayor were published than most families got for losing loved ones in the war. He was never sanctioned for what he said and did.
Esed Radeljaš was building a summer house on the land of judge Vladimir Špoljarić at a time when the judge was involved in his court case. Later they signed a bill of sale listing a piece of false information.
Reporters from the Center for Investigative Reporting interviewed over a hundred of war victims.
The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN) in Sarajevo is unique in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first organization of its kind to be established in Balkans. CIN is dedicated to investigative reporting, aimed toward providing fair and unbiased information, based on evidences and solid proof, to BiH citizens who need to make educated decisions.
Downloading of the content of the CIN is permitted with the mandatory reference to the source at www.cin.ba.
Svojim anonimnim prijavama doprinosite integritetu naše zajednice. Molimo vas da iskoristite ovu formu kako biste sigurno prijavili bilo kakvu sumnju u korupciju ili nezakonitu aktivnost koju primijetite. Vaša hrabrost ključna je za očuvanje naših vrijednosti i promicanje transparentnosti.
