SARAJEVO, JUNE 7 (ONASA) – The Office of the Disciplinary Prosecutor initiated disciplinary proceedings against the judge of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina Branko Perić, who had a dissenting opinion in the non-final verdict in the “Respirators” case.
As Detektor.ba was told by the Disciplinary Prosecutor’s Office (UDT), disciplinary proceedings were initiated against judge Branko Perić for “making decisions that clearly violate the law or persistent and unjustified violation of procedural rules” and “unjustified delay in making decisions or in other actions related to the performance of duties as a judge or any other repeated failure to comply with the duties of judges”.
The first misdemeanor refers to the first-instance verdict in the “Respiratori” case, in which Perić, as the president of the Judicial Council, had a dissenting opinion, while the unjustified delay in making decisions refers to the second case.
After the pronouncement of the first-instance verdict in the case “Respirators” in April of this year, the UDT formed a case ex officio against judge Perić.
Perić presided over the Judicial Council, which in a first-instance verdict convicted former federal prime minister Fadil Novalić, the suspended director of the Federal Administration of Civil Protection (FUCZ), Fahrudin Solak, and the owner of the company “F.H. Silver Raspberry” of Fikret Hodžić to a total of 15 years in prison for abuses during the procurement of respirators worth 10.5 million marks during the coronavirus pandemic, while the former federal finance minister Jelka Miličević was acquitted of charges of negligent work in the service.
During the pronouncement of the first-instance verdict, Perić said that it was passed by the majority of judges Braca Stupar and Goran Radević.
“I did not support the majority opinion. My assessment is completely different”, Perić said during the sentencing, stating that he believes that the criminal offense of abuse of position and the intentions of the accused have not been proven.
In a separate opinion, Perić stated that during the trial, the American embassy declared the acting prosecutors heroes, and that the accused were exposed to the “terror” of a daily newspaper, stating that such things are not necessary and prevent a good judiciary and the rule of law.
In the coming period, a preliminary hearing is expected to be scheduled before the First Instance Disciplinary Council, when more details from the disciplinary complaint will be known.