State capture is clearly a problem for all countries in the Western Balkans, and Bosnia and Herzegovina is no exception.

However, the phenomenon of state capture across different branches of government is often overlooked. State capture is a problem of great scale and complexity, with a dense network of interconnections among all its elements, which significantly hinders efforts to get to the root of the problem. However, if we look at the phenomenon of state capture through its components, focusing on different branches of government, we see different aspects of state capture, and we can more precisely identify its processes and mechanisms. In this way, we can not only unravel the problem, but also the paths to solutions, and even discover the weak points of the entire system that allows state capture.

The study we present here, unlike numerous previous works related to BiH, treats judicial capture as a key problem and as a key operational concept. Generally speaking, it can be said that BiH – with the direct support of international actors involved in peace implementation – made significant progress in establishing and strengthening the judicial system, which particularly refers to the early phase of reforms, i.e. the period from 1998 to 2006. Thereafter, judicial reform lost momentum due to subsequent changes in the approach and role of international actors, and the increasing reliance on the conditionality approach, which is a characteristic of the process of integration into the European Union. After the withdrawal of international actors from the operational management of the reform, the main role was taken over by local political actors whose primary interest was to maintain the status quo, which here means a captive judiciary.

In short, this study examines the extent to which the problem of undue influence of political and economic elites affects the work of judges and prosecutors in BiH, especially when it comes to combating high-level corruption. This study examines the procedural and institutional ways of exercising undue influence, as well as the direct practice and specific cases of undue influence on the judiciary in BiH.


[Bosnian]

Je li pravda u Bosni i Hercegovini zaista slijepa? Izvještaj o zarobljenom pravosuđu u Bosni i Hercegovini

Zarobljena država očito je problem svih zemalja Zapadnog Balkana, pa ni Bosna i Hercegovina u tome ne predstavlja nikakav izuzetak.

Često se, međutim, previđa fenomen zarobljenosti različitih grana vlasti. Zarobljenost države predstavlja problem velikih razmjera i složenosti, s gustom mrežom međusobnih veza svih njegovih elemenata, što znatno ometa nastojanja da se dođe do korijena problema. Posmatramo li, međutim, fenomen zarobljavanja kroz njegove komponente, fokusirajući se na različite grane vlasti, uočavamo različite aspekte zarobljanosti, pa možemo preciznije ustanoviti njegove procese i mehanizme. A tako možemo ne samo raspetljati problem, nego i puteve do rješenja, te otkriti čak i slabe tačke cijelog sistema koji dopušta zarobljavanje države.

Studija koju ovdje predstavljamo, za razliku od brojnih prethodnih radova u vezi s BiH, tretira zarobljenost pravosuđa kao ključni problem i kao ključni operativni koncept. Generalno govoreć, može se reći da je BiH – uz direktnu podršku međunarodnih aktera uključenih u implementaciju mira – postigla značajan napredak u uspostavljanju i jačanju pravosudnog sistema, što se posebno odnosi na ranu fazu reformi, odnosno razdoblje od 1998. do 2006. godine. Potom pravosudna reforma gubi zamah usljed kasnijih promjena pristupa i uloge međunarodnih aktera, te sve većeg oslanjanja na pristup uslovljavanja, koji je karakteristika svojstvena procesu integracije u Evropsku uniju. Nakon povlačenja međunarodnih aktera iz operativnog upravljanja reformom, glavnu ulogu preuzimaju lokalni politički akteri čiji je primarni interes da zadrže status quo, koji ovdje znači zarobljeno pravosuđe.

Ukratko, ova studija ispituje u kojoj mjeri problem neprimjerenog utjecaja političkih i ekonomskih elita djeluje na rad sudija i tužilaca u BiH, posebno kada je riječ o suzbijanju korupcije na visokom nivou. Ova studija ispituje proceduralne i institucionalne puteve ostvarivanja neprimjerenog utjecaja, kao i neposrednu praksu i konkretne slučajeve neprimjerenog utjecaja na pravosuđe u BiH.