Bosnia minister quits over ‘threats’ to top prosecutor

SARAJEVO: Bosnia security minister quit Tuesday to protest threats to the country´s chief prosecutor in a corruption case relating to the purchase of Chinese respirators for coronavirus patients.

“I will present my resignation today after a government meeting and as of that moment will no longer be the minister,” Fahrudin Radoncic told a press conference. Bosnia´s prosecutor general Gordana Tadic, who named three prosecutors for the case, has received death threats on social media, Radoncic said. Police said they had stepped up security measures for her and her family. “Transforming prosecutors, policemen or judges into targets is something that no security minister could watch without reacting,” Radoncic said. Last week, the prime minister of Bosnia´s Muslim-Croatia half, a member of the main Bosnian Muslim SDA party, was detained as part of an investigation into the purchase of 100 respirators. But, the SDA accused the chief prosecutor of leading a “political process”. SDA leader Bakir Izetbegovic said Tadic was taking part in a “coup” against Muslim leaders and not persecuting those suspected of committing war crimes against Bosnian Muslims. Tadic warned against any “direct pressure on the work of justice” or “endangering” herself and her family. Since the 1990s war Bosnia consists of two semi-independent entities — the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serbs´ Republika Srpska.