THE COLLEGIUM OF THE SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR ORGANISED CRIME, ECONOMIC CRIME AND CORRUPTION TOOK A POSITION – IN CASES FALLING WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE AND COURT OF BIH, PROSECUTORS OF THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE OF BIH MAY GIVE NECES

Prosecutors of the Special Department for Organised Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH held a Collegium on 29 April at which they discussed about the publicly announced statement of the Federation Prosecutor’s Office and took a legal position regarding the presented interpretations of the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Because of frequent references to this announcement by various institutions and individuals, and because of the presented allegations that the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH acts unlawfully, we have a need to inform the public about the conclusions reached.

The Collegium adopted conclusions according to which prosecutors of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, when exercising their rights and competencies in accordance with Article 37 of the BiH Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), may in all cases falling within the jurisdiction of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH and the Court of BiH give necessary instructions to all prosecutors in both entities and Brčko District of BiH.

The legal understanding and positions on the provision of the CPC BiH can be taken only by authorities that act under the CPC BiH and in no way by authorities that do not act under it. The public announcement of the interpretation of the CPC BiH by judicial institutions that do not act under the aforementioned Code may have negative consequences for the exercise of the rights and powers of all prosecutors in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This way of operation with the prosecutor’s offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was applied several times in the past, has never been disputable and significant joint results have been achieved.

In this regard, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH invites the Federation Prosecutor’s Office, as well as other prosecutor’s offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to act unitedly in prosecuting serious forms of the most serious crimes of systemic corruption and crimes against justice, as well as all other serious crimes perpetrated within organised crime, economic crime, terrorism, human trafficking and all other criminal offences falling within the competence of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina is continuing working intensively on all cases despite the difficult conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and will not give in to pressures of any kind, all in order to protect citizens and achieve the rule of law, which are one of the priorities for European integration.