Ekrem Šarić is no longer serving as a judge at the Municipal Court in Velika Kladuša, following a disciplinary ruling by the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HJPC BiH). The final decision took effect in mid-June 2025. Šarić retains the right to appeal to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The disciplinary proceedings were launched over multiple professional violations, including negligence in performing his duties, inappropriate conduct both inside and outside the courtroom, failure to treat parties fairly, unjustified delays in issuing rulings, and repeatedly making decisions that breached the law and procedural rules.
Some of these rulings related to a criminal case involving Arif Dizdarević, accused of document forgery, which was reported by the Centre for Investigative Reporting (CIN) in March 2024.
Dizdarević was sentenced to three months in prison for driving a car with someone else’s licence plates in December 2012. At that point, the three-year statute of limitations for initiating the execution of the sentence began. However, Šarić, who issued the verdict, took no steps to enforce the sentence until autumn 2018. Documents obtained by CIN reveal that Šarić then reopened the case and took contradictory actions.
Judge Šarić first issued an order to execute the prison sentence, only to later withdraw it. Then he changed the date of the final judgment from December 2012 to December 2018, thereby automatically changing the start of the statute of limitations calculation.
He wrote to the police, who maintain criminal records with final judgments and imposed penalties, requesting to change the finality date to 2018. He also encouraged the convicted person to seek a retrial. Judge Šarić sought to transfer the jurisdiction for a retrial to other courts, but then, in March 2022, he issued another order for the execution of the three-month prison sentence.
Dizdarević’s defense lawyer alerted the Court to the expired statute of limitations for the execution of the sentence. Municipal Court President Jasmina Miljković accepted this objection, and in early 2023, she issued a decision that Dizdarević would not go to prison due to the statute of limitations. She subsequently informed the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council about the developments in the case.
A few months later, a disciplinary complaint was filed against Judge Šarić.
This lawsuit against Šarić also included another case similar to Dizdarević’s, as well as other violations, such as delays in taking action in 20 cases—two of which were urgent: a petition to revoke parental rights and the forced placement of a mentally ill person deemed dangerous to others.
Šarić sought to complicate the disciplinary process. He requested the disqualification of commission members, causing delays, and argued that the statute of limitations had expired or that the lawsuit should be dismissed. He appealed the dismissal decision, claiming it would negatively impact his family and expressed willingness to settle for a reduced penalty—either a 50% salary cut or transfer to the Municipal Court in Bosanska
