The first-instance disciplinary commission of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HJPCBiH) punished Gordana Tadić, prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, with a 30 percent salary cut for one year for an untrue statement she posted on Facebook.

According to the HJPC’s press release, Tadić used language inappropriate to her position, making false statements about the occasion and content of the conversation between HJPC members and Ranko Debevac, President of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On her Facebook profile, she posted that HJPC members pressured her to transfer certain cases of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina to another prosecutor’s office, after which no disciplinary proceedings would be initiated against her.

The aforementioned post was shared by the media, which triggered comments from the public. In the view of the disciplinary commission, her conduct cast doubt on the authority and impartiality of the HJPC and the judiciary as a whole and undermined the dignity of the Chief Prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor’s Office.

Vlado Adamović, the lawyer who represented Tadić in this disciplinary procedure, told CIN reporters that he will appeal the level of the penalty and the basis of the verdict, holding that she has not committed what she was charged with: “Even if she had, I think that the punishment is too excessive for the severity of the offense”.

Tadić has been subject to disciplinary action before. In September 2021, she was demoted from the position of Chief Prosecutor to the position of prosecutor because she failed to initiate the security checks of employees of the BiH Prosecutor’s Office of BiH.

Tadić joined the BiH Prosecutor’s Office in 2013, and a year later she was appointed Deputy Chief prosecutor. She was appointed Chief prosecutor in January 2019.