Judge of the Municipal Court in Sarajevo Pavle Crnogorac issued yesterday (at the request of Ranko Debevec, President of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina) a decision (65 0 P 887562 21 Mo of 1 February 2021), prohibiting “Avaz-roto press” from publishing information from his private life.

No one should be untouchable

This decision, apart from being a blow to the most widely read media in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the introduction of the darkest form of censorship in journalists' reporting on public figures and public officials, was imposed contrary to the provisions of the FB&H Law on Civil Procedure and the FB&H Law on Protection from Defamation, which the judge completely ignored.

The right to freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Constitution of FB&H, as well as the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and represents one of the essential foundations of a democratic society, especially in matters of political and public interest.

Ranko Debevec is a judge of the Court of B&H and the President of the Court of B&H, he holds the most important position in the judiciary in the country and as such cannot and must not be untouchable and exempt from criticism from journalists.

The editorial board of “Dnevni Avaz” believe that Debevec must not be exempted from legal and moral responsibility for his actions and therefore cannot be distinguished from holders of office in the legislative or executive branch.

He, as the President of the Court of B&H, must not be favored by any judge in making decisions on his private lawsuits, because this directly undermines the trust of citizens in the judiciary.

The decision of the municipal judge Crnogorac does not contain any explanation for what urgent reasons it was enacted.

Article 10, paragraph 3 of the FB&H Law on Protection against Defamation, which the judge does not mention at all, stipulates that a temporary court measure prohibiting the disclosure or further disclosure of false facts may be ordered only if the damaged side can make it probable that that expression caused damage to his reputation and that the damaged side will suffer irreparable damage as a result of the transmission of that expression.

The judge does not explain in a single word how Ranko Debevec, with the greatest certainty, proved that untruths were published about him and that he suffers damage.

And how the Court within two days (the lawsuit dates from January 28th, 2021. - Thursday, the decision from February 1st, 2021. - Monday) found that "Dnevni avaz" published untruths, taking into consideration the fact that no one from "Avaz" was questioned.

Without allowing Dnevni Avaz's journalists and lawyers to comment on Ranko Debevec's allegations, judge Pavle Crnogorac himself decided in an expressly short period of time that „Dnevni Avaz“ had published untruths and that Debevec had proved this with the greatest certainty only by filing a lawsuit which contains the published texts.

Disciplining the public word

In the style of totalitarian regimes and according to the principle "Qadi sues you, Qadi judges you", this judge ruled the journalists of "Dnevni Avaz", introducing into court practice the darkest method of silencing and disciplining the public word. Due to this, "Avaz-roto press" will send a complaint against judge Pavle Crnogorac to the Office of the Disciplinary Prosecutor of the HJPC.

You will not silence us, we will continue to write about corruption

Journalists of "Dnevni avaz", as legalists, will respect the decision of the Court, although we did not write about the "love and private life" of the President of the Court of B&H Ranko Debevac, but about the abuse of office of the President of the Court for private purposes.

This, of course, does not mean that we will not continue to write about all the topics we have written about in our texts, and they concern possible acts of corruption and abuse of office of the President of the Court of B&H.

We remind you that Debevec is obliged to explain to the public and the competent state bodies why he has a dual identity, ie one name - Ranko Debevec, which he uses in B&H, and another name - Ranko Debevec Kaveson, which he uses in Spain.

Also, the President of the Court of B&H should explain the possession of dual citizenship, B&H and Spain, and why when applying for the position of judge and later the President of the Court of B&H did not report that he has dual citizenship.

Debevec, and we also wrote about that, did not report in his property card that he owned real estate in Spain and Croatia, and he was obliged by law to do so.

"Dnevni avaz" will continue to write about the inappropriate socializing of the President of the Court of B&H with the accused Osman Mehmedagić Osmica, the director of ISA.

As we will not be silent about sending questions and answers for the professional exam to the trainee in the Court of B&H, through the closest associate, about threats to a former friend sent via text message, in which he stated that what is done to him "can only be washed with blood and nothing else" .

"Avaz" and its journalists will continue to write about the numerous abuses that were recently pointed out by some judges and prosecutors in a letter to the HJPC.

We remind the judge Crnogorac that, precisely because of the writing of "Avaz" and other media, three disciplinary cases were formed against Ranko Debevec, and in one of them a disciplinary investigation was initiated by the Office of the Disciplinary Prosecutor.

It is strange that judge Pavle Crnogorac is trying to stop the media writing about high and systemic corruption in B&H, and according to official international data, our country is in the, infamous, second place in the world in terms of the level of corruption.

In addition, according to the logic of the judge Crnogorac, if it were to be introduced as a regular case law, all writings about corruption of politicians, directors and even individual judges would be stopped, and this would abolish the right of the media to inform the public about their private illegalities that they commit while performing high state duties.

We remind you that last week the Office for the Fight against Corruption of the Sarajevo Canton, in which the American prosecutor Eric Larson acts as an advisor, filed criminal charges against three mayors because they did not report real estate in their property cards, which, if we compare them, are much less valuable than the unreported real estate of Ranko Debevec. And he performs much more important position.