Bosnia in Herzegovina:
NATO rejects Bosnia and Herzegovina due to Russia's influence
According to some verified sources, Bosnia and Herzegovina's accession to NATO has been definitely stopped. NATO does not want the Russian Federation to infiltrate into its membership indirectly through Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The accession of BiH in NATO would automatically give a voice to Russia that could block NATO actions through BiH membership. BiH has fallen victim to the Russian-Serbian agreement which is supported by a certain part of Croatian and Bosniak politicians in BiH. The present situation in that country obviously shows that the whole security and defence system of BiH is controlled by Serbia, i.e. Moscow. In its analysis published on 28 August 2012 entitled “BiH: The Moscow – Belgrade – Banja Luka – Sarajevo transversal”(link: http://www.ifimes.org/en/researches/the-moscow-belgrade-banja-luka-sarajevo-transversal-2013-01-24/) IFIMES among other wrote the following analysis and assessment:
“By offering solutions for the implementation of the Sejdić-Finci case the leading political parties are trying to make some fundamental constitutional changes and realise their secret strategic interests such as to postpone Bosnia and Herzegovina's full membership in NATO and eventually even to prevent it. The background of the reconstruction of power in Bosnia and Herzegovina has revealed that the aim is to enable the staff of Zlatko Lagumdžija (SDP) and Fahrudin Radončić (SBB) to take over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as the Defence Ministry, while Radončić himself would occupy the position as the Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This would enable them to assume full control of the key governmental departments responsible for the process of NATO accession and for the security system of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Consequently, the security system of Bosnia and Herzegovina would be directly connected with Moscow, which has a transversal connection with Tehran. Based on the current status of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its partnership relations with NATO, the above stated transversal would infiltrate into the security system of NATO, EU and other international institutions and agencies ensuring the security of western countries.”
While attempts have been carried out through the “Moscow – Belgrade – Banja Luka – Sarajevo transversal” to destroy the judicial system in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially the Court and the Prosecutor's Office, the strategy is being implemented to take over the control of the BiH Armed Forces and security-intelligence system. At the moment the “transversal” is engaged in the final phase of gaining control over the judicial system in BiH. To that end it has set up a set of conditions and “problems” to distance BiH from NATO membership not only through organising a referendum but also through various legal ruses, such as public property and war gains etc. NATO's indifference will soon bring BiH to the crossroads where it will have to decide whether to surrender to the military and defence union with Serbia and Russia. Bearing in mind that the leading politicians representing the Bosniak and Croat nations in BiH, including Fahrudin Radončić, Zlatko Lagumdžija and Dragan Čović (HDZ), are supporting the “transversal” policy, the future of BiH has never been as uncertain as it is now, not even during the 1992-1995 war period. It is therefore not surprising to hear the Chairman of the BiH Presidency Željko Komšić say that the patriots would take up arms to defend BiH should that be necessary.
THE MINISTER OF THE “TRANSVERSAL”
While the agencies responsible for the executive branch of power in BiH such as the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) are demonstrating all the vehemence of the Russian-Serbian strategy for BiH through illegal apprehensions, intimidation of citizens, staged investigations, violation of laws and abuse of authorities, the BiH Minister of Security is openly deceiving the citizens of BiH that he has no authority over the operations of those agencies. His behaviour resembles that of Fikret Abdić in early 1990s. Analysts note that this is a classic example of deception by a minister. As the basis for this analysis let us state some laws that stipulate that the Security Minister is responsible for all security issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Paragraph 4 and point (f) of Article 8 of the Law on State Investigation and Protection Agency lay down that:
(4) Director is responsible to the Minister and the Council of Ministers for his activities, for the activities carried out by SIPA, and for the situation in the fields falling within SIPA competence;
(f) preparing annual reports on the activities and on the situation in the fields falling within SIPA competence and submitting them to the Council of Ministers and preparing special reports as needed or if requested by the Minister;
Accordingly SIPA Director Goran Zubac is responsible to BiH Minister of Security Fahrudin Radončić, has to submit annual reports to him and when needed prepare special reports at his request. The strict subordination regime and hierarchy in relation to Security Minister apply also to other administrative organisations within the Security Ministry:
- Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
- Service for Foreigners' Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
- Border Police,
- Police Support Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
- Agency for Education and Professional Training,
- Agency for Forensic Examinations and Expertise.
Director of Border Police is responsible for his activities to the Minister and the Council of Ministers, and Director of Service for Foreigners' Affairs is directly responsible to the Minister of Security (Article 22, paragraph 2). Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Agency for Education and Professional Training must submit the annual report on activities to the Minister of Security who then forwards it to the Council of Ministers and they must draw up special reports when needed or if requested by the Minister of Security.
GERMANY IS EXPECTED TO SUMMON NOVIĆ AND HRGIĆ
Although he has publicly denied his authority over administrative bodies and agencies within his ministry, BiH Security Minister has provided absolute and unique support to all activities carried out by the security apparatus in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moreover, pursuant to the Constitution and laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina the Ministry of Security has direct responsibilities in the field of detection and investigation of perpetrators of terrorist acts, drug trafficking, forgery of domestic and foreign currencies and trafficking in human beings as well as other criminal acts with international or interethnic elements and for gathering and processing data that are of relevance for the security of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The above stated direct responsibilities fall within the competence of Assistant Minister of Security for Combating Terrorism, Organized Crime and Drugs Vjekoslav Vuković and Secretary at the Ministry of Security Bakir Dautbašić who has been prepared by the “transversal” to take over the position in BiH Intelligence-Security Agency (OSA – OBA) as of June 2014. Vuković, who was prosecuted in Croatia, was sentenced to nine-month imprisonment at the Municipal Court in Rijeka for assisting would-be assassins with obtaining weapons which they intended to use to kill two men in a car bomb in October 2008 in Rijeka. In their reports intelligence services assessed Vuković as a person showing a negative attitude towards everything that is related to the Bosniak side, which marks him as the right hand of BiH Security Minister and at the same time disqualifies him from performing that function.
While the BiH Prosecutor's Office is hearing SIPA's employees who have on their own initiative presented evidence on the misuse of power by SIPA Director Zubac and his collaborates, thus risking their lives and existence to defend the democracy and their country, BiH Security Minister has provided full protection and support to the compromised SIPA management and openly deceived the citizens of BiH that he has no authority over administrative bodies and agencies within the Ministry of Security of which he is the boss. Thus he has also provided protection to SIPA's main operative official Anđelko Hrgić who was accused by Ante Đapić of leading the activities for the assassination of his uncle in FR Germany in 1989 when Hrgić was one of the pre-war bosses of BiH State Security Service. While Croatia is facing severe reprimand from the EU for having provided protection to former head of State Security Service Josip Perković, BiH Minister of Security is providing protection to the whole “transversal” structure headed by the incumbent BiH Minister of Civil Affairs Sredoje Nović who was the head of BiH State Security Service in 1989 and who has directly protected Anđelko Hrgić whom Nović as former SIPA Director employed at the main operational position in SIPA. Germany will soon contact BiH authorities not only regarding Sredoje Nović and Anđelko Hrgić, but also concerning several other persons who worked for the State Security Service and were in charge of monitoring and eliminating the so-called Yugoslav emigrants to West Europe, especially to FR Germany.
EAVESDROPPING ON JOURNALISTS AND PREPARATIONS FOR APPREHENSIONS IN THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA
Anarchy of the security system and legal uncertainty created by the Ministry of Security together with SIPA represent a classic example of dictatorial and aggressor regimes. There have been numerous cases of media control exerted by police and security forces headed by the Ministry of Security and SIPA. This includes spying, espionage, threatening and illegal eavesdropping on BiH media such as weekly newspapers Slobodna Bosna, Dani, and according to certain available sources also eavesdropping on telephone conversations of the Oslobođenje editorial office in Sarajevo. As the initiator of the reforms of the defence forces, judicial system, intelligence services and the police, the US received a heavy blow from the “transversal”. Officials such as Goran Zubac, Sredoje Nović and Dragan Mektić eventually compromised US representative organisation (ICITAP - International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program of the US Department of Justice) in BiH, whose employee was arrested by FBI for alleged corruption. They also compromised the diplomats from the US State Department who rented a house from the incumbent BiH Security Minister. Moreover, US and OHR high officials who have implemented the judicial reform will soon be compromised by people such as Dragan Čorlija who was the “master of life and death” at Ilidža during the 1992-1995 war period, Vesna Budimir who represents the HDZ-SDP alliance in the BiH Prosecutor's Office and whose task was to divide the Prosecutor's Office on the national basis, as well as by others such as high court official Branko Perić. While a system resembling the regime in Serbia during the reign of Slobodan Milošević and Milorad Ulemek Legija is being implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina, directors of BiH agencies are sitting at meetings and deceiving the public that their cooperation has never been better – which is actually true: they are all doing nothing to prevent the destruction of the country's security and defence system. The period before the next general election in Bosnia and Herzegovina (scheduled for October 2014) will be characterised by further misuses of security and intelligence agencies. A series of actions are already in preparation within SIPA in order to exert direct pressure on election results in the Republic of Srpska, including a series of investigations and apprehensions of opposition leaders in Banja Luka, Bijeljina, Trebinje and Doboj.
RESPONSIBILITY LIES WITH THE CHIEF PROSECUTOR AND PRESIDENT OF THE COURT
The Prosecutor's Office and the Court of BiH bear large responsibility for stopping and preventing police dictatorship in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a matter of priority, the chief prosecutor should resolve most of the pending investigations that were politically motivated and initiated by his closest staff in agreement with directors of agencies, Ministry of Security, Zlatko Lagumdžia, Milorad Dodik, Sredoje Nović and Nikola Špirić. It will represent the greatest achievement for BiH Chief Prosecutor if he manages to establish control over his closest staff who are perpetrating the most serious violations of laws and the Constitution of BiH under the veil of their respective institution and their position in it. Scandalous apprehension of and investigation against MP of the BiH Parliament Šemsudin Mehmedović as well as indirect attacks on liaison officer with the Hague Tribunal Amir Ahmić by SIPA are only the “biggest drop in the sea” of misuses carried out by the security and intelligence institutions of BiH. For quite some time the country's whole security and intelligence system has been making media and institutional preparations to open the investigation against the member of BiH Presidency Bakir Izetbegović. In this case it was of great importance that at the very beginning Izetbegović forced BiH Security Minister Radončić to publicly present the “evidence” he possessed for the charges that he publicly staged as the minister and owner of the Dnevni Avaz daily newspaper against the Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency. One of the goals of the “transversal” and of BiH Security Minister is to eliminate Izetbegović from the political scene through politically staged proceedings.
KRAJIŠNIK TO ENTER BiH PRESIDENCY, IZETBEGOVIĆ TO BE ELIMINATED
The case of Momčilo Krajišnik has once again opened the question as to who (and how) can be politically active in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On one hand BiH police is abused to stage investigations and indictments against political opponents, while on the other hand the insufficiently defined legislation theoretically enables persons convicted of the most serious crimes including genocide to lead the country. Instead of applying the American system according to which serious crimes convicts lose all citizen rights, especially the right to participate in politics, in Bosnia and Herzegovina an indictment for severe violation of the international humanitarian law bans a person to be elected to state institutions, while one can not be employed at sensitive security positions if they are under the Prosecutor's investigation for general crimes, corruption or terrorism, which is unacceptable. The lack of regulation in this field has contributed to the present situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which Security Minister has ensured himself 24/7 security verification by SIPA Director Goran Zubac. Namely, earlier reports of SIPA and security-intelligence agencies on BiH Security Minister's connections with international criminal activities formally had no legal basis in the legislation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to prevent such a person to occupy the leading position in the BiH Ministry of Security. It is unusual that Director Zubac who is hierarchically directly subordinated to Minister Radončić is carrying out security verifications on his boss Radončić. It is frightening that leading position in SIPA was occupied by Goran Zubac against whom his colleagues from the Public Security Centre (CJB) Trebinje brought criminal charges before the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton in2005 for war crimes against the Bosniaks, although no one examined the charge before Zubac was appointed to that position. Fahrudin Radončić and Goran Zubac were placed on the key positions in the BiH security apparatus without the security-intelligence agencies having first verified all the reports of police and security agencies. Those are two most visible examples of insufficiently regulated legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, that should require each potential official to undergo complete investigation before being appointed to official position if there are indications of his/her possible involvement in criminal or other illegal activities, especially in cases when police reports or even charges have been brought against them. The significant part of responsibility lies with international officials who have been “involved ” in local political games and who have allowed such obscurantist criminals to occupy the leading positions in the security apparatus through undefined legal provisions, thus showing others how to be politically active in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
AMERICAN ASSISTANCE IN FIGHTING MAFIA
The IFIMES International Institute urges the representatives of the EU, OHR, PIC as well as representatives of the US administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina to stop the implementation of the police state and the abuse of security and intelligence agencies in that country Representatives of those organisations should be involved in the investigation of illegal eavesdropping on telephone conversations of journalists and independent media houses in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They should also offer support to BiH Chief Prosecutor and President of the Court in order to halt the politically motivated investigations and proceedings carried out by the corrupt security and intelligence apparatus. In order to prevent further destabilisation of the country, the BiH Parliament should pass the law that would permanently prohibit any person convicted by a final judgement for war crimes and genocide committed during the recent war to perform public functions, even after they have served their prison sentence. Should the BiH Parliament not be able to pass such a law, the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina Valentin Inzko is expected to impose it instead.
Following the example of Italy after World War II, Bosnia and Herzegovina would need strong assistance of American agencies in fighting organised crime and corruption as well as mafia structures which have gained control over a large part of state institutions, entities, cantons and municipalities and paralysed them in fighting organised crime and corruption.
Analysts have noted that reports issued by the BiH Ministry of Security and its subordinated bodies and agencies should be read with caution, since they were drawn up on the basis of internal clashes and attempts to discredit certain individuals and organisations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and are as such very unreliable for any serious operational use within BiH as well as for international security and intelligence cooperation. As practice from previous cases in other countries has shown, the destruction of the security system represents an introduction into the dissolution of the state.
More information is available at the following links:
http://www.sipa.gov.ba/hr/pdfhr/sipa27-04.pdf
http://www.sipa.gov.ba/hr/pdfhr/sipa49-09.pdf
http://www.granpol.gov.ba/propisi/zakoni/?cid=29,2,1
http://www.osa-oba.gov.ba/zakonhr.htm
Ljubljana, 5 September 2013
