BETWEEN PROTECTION AND INTERNAL INFLUENCES: COURT PRESIDENTS AND JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Abstract

In contemporary scholarship, court presidents are sometimes conceptualised as an institutional manifestation of judicial self-governance, contributing to the strengthening of judicial independence by ensuring the efficient administration of courts, safeguarding professional standards, and acting as intermediaries between the judiciary and other branches of government. In this sense, their role may serve as an important safeguard against external pressures. Court presidents may play a key role in upholding the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, both at the institutional level and with respect to individual judges. At the same time, they may also emerge as a factor undermining internal judicial independence, particularly through pressures exerted on individual judges.

Owing to their extensive administrative and career-related competences, court presidents occupy structurally sensitive positions within the judicial system and may therefore be exposed to pressures from a variety of sources, not limited to the executive branch. Their authority over case allocation, internal court administration, and the professional advancement of judges confers considerable institutional significance on their office. In such circumstances, compliant or strategically aligned court presidents may serve as conduits for indirect forms of political or institutional influence over the judiciary. This risk highlights the need for a clearly defined and carefully tailored framework of responsibility specific to their role, rather than reliance solely on the general rules governing judicial accountability.

Based on a comparative analysis of the status and competences of court presidents across European jurisdictions, the paper offers a critical evaluation of the legal framework governing court presidents in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Particular focus is placed on the current Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH, its 2023 amendments, and the new law proposal currently pending before the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. Special attention is devoted to the legal framework governing the disciplinary responsibility of court presidents, as well as to the practice of the disciplinary bodies of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH.