ALAC Centre for legal aid in the fight against corruption

Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina

ALAC STORY: CITIZEN OF SARAJEVO

TI BiH has received an anonymous e-mail through its Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre from a woman working in the Ministry of the Interior of the Sarajevo Canton (MISC), who wanted to remain anonymous and identified herself only as a citizen of Sarajevo. That person informed us that, as an employee of the MISC, she had become aware of the fact that a certain woman had reported to the Minister of the Interior of the Sarajevo Canton a traffic policeman who had stopped her and verbally abused her with sexual innuendoes during a routine traffic control of her vehicle.

Given that her e-mail contained very serious charges, TI BiH first advised the citizen of Sarajevo to report this misconduct anonymously to the Office for Public Complaints and Grievances of the MISC, which the party did do, but did not receive any response. In that regard, TI BiH sent an official letter to the MISC enquiring if they had taken any actions in connection with the anonymous report.

According to the citizen of Sarajevo, rather than officially verifying her allegations against the traffic policemen, the Minister in the MISC issued a directive (an internal act with the force of an order) to all police departments in the Sarajevo Canton providing a description of the vehicle, licence plates, and name and surname of the woman who had reported the traffic policeman, and ordering traffic policemen to stop her vehicle, make up alleged traffic violations and penalise her as much as possible.

The MISC informed us that their Office for Public Complaints and Grievances had examined the allegations from the anonymous report and issued the Conclusion that there were no grounds for conducting an internal investigation. In order to check the activities conducted by the MISC, TI BiH contacted the MISC invoking the Freedom of Access to Information Act and requesting submission of a copy of the Conclusion. The MISC issued the Decision denying access to the requested information.

ALAC Centre for legal aid in the fight against corruption

Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Information Officer said that the access to the requested information was denied because it was considered an exemption in terms of the Freedom of Access to Information Act. TI BiH appealed in a timely fashion to the Federal Ministry of Justice as the secondinstance organ, pointing out that the information was declared an exemption, but without conducting the public interest test. The Federal Ministry of Justice upheld TI BiHs appeal and remitted the case to the first-instance organ for reconsideration. In the repeated procedure, the MISC again issued the Decision denying access to the requested information, against which TI BiH lodged an appeal again. The appeal was upheld again, the MISCs Decision was repealed and the case was remitted to the MISC for repeated reconsideration. In the repeated procedure, the MISC again issued the Decision denying access to the requested information with a note that the MISCs Decision would not change despite the constant upholding of TI BiHs appeals by the second-instance organ. TI BiH appealed against the said Decision, proposing that the second-instance organ should exert its authority and order the MISC to submit the requested information. On 22 April 2011 the Federal Ministry of Justice upheld TI BiHs appeal and submitted the requested information which was seized from the MISC.

Having finally received the requested information, TI BiH found out that the MISCs Office for Public Complaints and Grievances did not implement the disciplinary procedure in accordance with the Law on Police Officials and the Rulebook on Disciplinary Liability, and that it did not even pass the Conclusion on Failure to Conduct an Internal Investigation, but it only stated in the minutes that the investigation was not going to be conducted and that the constant refusal to submit information by the MISC was therefore understandable.

Given the fact that almost a year passed from the

receipt of the anonymous report on 10 May 2010 to being granted access to information on 5 May 2011, TI BiH plans in the coming period to inform the public through the media about this case and sloppy work of the MISCs Office for Public Complaints and Grievances, as well as to continue institutional struggle for consistent application of the law by public authorities.

This case is one of thousands cases processed by Advocacy and Legal Advice Center of Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina.