The cameras that were installed two years ago on the bypass around Sarajevo and the highway recorded so many violations that it took the police more than two years to deliver them to drivers. At the driver’s request, the Sarajevo court cancels orders that have not been sent within a year, but the Sarajevo police continue to send them. Some drivers never complain and just pay the fine.
Judges and prosecutors sitting in the highest judicial body in the country noticed in September that the number of outdated cases in the Sarajevo court was increasing. But also that all 137 cases that have expired are related to traffic violations.
The number of violations has increased
In just one year, the number of violations brought to the court by the police increased by almost five times. This happened after speed cameras were installed on the bypass around Sarajevo and the highway.
The number of violations increased from around 3,500 to almost 16,000.
Such a volume of violations in the Sarajevo police could not be sent to the drivers on time even when they hired additional people, so some drivers received notifications only after two years, even though they have a one-year deadline to send the notification, and after two years the absolute statute of limitations begins.
Detector had insight into several orders according to which the offense was committed in 2023, and they reached the citizens only this year.
– Any statute of limitations is a defeat of the system – says the former disciplinary prosecutor and legal expert Arben Murtezić.
At the session of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) held in September of this year, the Department for Judicial Analytics and Reporting noticed an increase in cases that are subject to the statute of limitations in the Municipal Court in Sarajevo. All 137 cases in which the statute of limitations has expired in this court relate to cases of traffic violations.
Limitation of misdemeanor proceedings
This court, as explained, explained the reasons for the increase in these cases and said, among other things, that it was recorded that misdemeanor orders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Sarajevo Canton (MUP KS) were submitted for court decision when the statute of limitations for starting misdemeanor proceedings had already expired.
The Municipal Court in Sarajevo explained to Detektor that the activation of cameras on the A1 Highway, Sarajevo – Zenica, resulted in a large number of violations due to exceeding the speed limit.
They added that the fact that this court received 3,508 cases from the Traffic Unit of the Cantonal Police during 2023, while in 2024 as many as 15,843 cases were received, four and a half times as many, which mostly refer to misdemeanor orders issued to drivers for speeding on the highway.
– Requests for court decisions based on misdemeanor orders are sometimes received by this court only a few months or even a few days before the absolute statute of limitations begins – say the Sarajevo Municipal Court.
The court does not have enough time
They also add that in a large number of cases, after submitting a request for a court decision, and due to the statute of limitations prescribed by law, the Court does not have enough time to take procedural actions at the end of the misdemeanor proceedings, which is why a decision is made to suspend the proceedings due to the onset of the absolute statute of limitations for misdemeanor prosecution of the perpetrator.
– The majority of drivers have been issued a large number of misdemeanor warrants for these violations, which is why they are brought to the situation of submitting multiple misdemeanor warrants to the court for which they request the consolidation of cases, which further burdens the court and makes it difficult for judges to resolve these cases – the court explained.
How the KS MUP processes violations
The Police Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Sarajevo Canton explains that they process violations chronologically with the number of people they have.
They claim that they do everything within the legal deadlines.
According to the Law on Misdemeanors of Bosnia and Herzegovina, misdemeanor prosecution cannot be initiated when one year has passed since the misdemeanor was committed for misdemeanors for which a fine of up to 3,000 marks was prescribed, and when two years have passed since the misdemeanor was committed for misdemeanors for which a fine of more than 3,000 marks was prescribed.
The police told Detektor that the large number of violations recorded by stationary devices during 2023 significantly burdened the Administration’s capacities, which also had an impact on the increase in the number of misdemeanor cases pending before the Municipal Court in Sarajevo.
They also state that a significant reduction in the number of violations recorded in 2024 compared to those in 2023 was observed, and that the period for processing violations and issuing violation orders is expected to be shortened.
Citizens are issued a misdemeanor warrant when the statute of limitations has already expired
The police administration claims that they do not have situations where a misdemeanor warrant is issued to citizens when the statute of limitations has already expired.
They add that after the misdemeanor order has been delivered to the defendant, there is no possibility of it being sent to him again.
– There are situations when a misdemeanor warrant cannot be served to the defendant by mail, due to various reasons such as: address unknown, moved away, notified – not picked up, etc., and such warrants are returned to the competent organizational unit – say the Administration.
They explain that when, in such cases, a misdemeanor order is subsequently served on the defendant, the delivery date is written on the delivery note and that information is entered into the database.
– We emphasize that it is not about issuing a misdemeanor warrant after the statute of limitations has expired, but about serving a properly issued misdemeanor warrant that was not previously served on the accused person – the Police Administration states.
There is no subjective or objective responsibility of the Court
Murtezić explains that misdemeanor proceedings can neither be initiated nor conducted after a certain period of time has passed, depending on the amount of the fine. Although it was not explicitly stated, according to Murtezić, there is no doubt that this is taken into account by official duty, and not by the party’s complaint, which obliges both the police and the court.
– There is a question of fairness, but also of spending resources – says Murtezić and adds that “it is probably only about chronological work by automation, but this is certainly an issue that should be discussed”.
Sarajevo lawyer Senad Pizović considers that there is no subjective or objective responsibility of the Court in these cases.
– I am aware that there is not enough manpower, because we are dealing with hundreds, thousands, destinations of thousands of vehicles that exceed the speed limit and it all needs to be processed now, and I know that just before the expiration of the statute of limitations, the MUP will deliver those misdemeanor warrants to the persons – he says and adds that the statute of limitations does not occur while the case is in the MUP.
Pizović believes that citizens generally know about the statute of limitations institutes, and that when they submit a request for a court decision, it goes to a judge who schedules a hearing for an oral hearing, without which a decision cannot be made.
– As the Court is overcrowded, even if he schedules everything within 30 days, that statute of limitations will be breached again, so I think that there is more responsibility, but I think that it is objective, on the part of the police officers – he says and adds that it is painstaking work and that the police officers cannot “collect all that information and send it in time to avoid that statute of limitations”.
Murtezić believes that the number of cases in the Municipal Court in Sarajevo is an anomaly and that it would be difficult for larger systems to process them.
– It is notorious that numerous cases come before the court before or after the expiration of the deadline. I don’t have reliable data, but I believe that all judges in the misdemeanor department work far above the expected norm, and it is difficult to say how much some reorganization in the Court would help without jeopardizing the work in other departments – he adds.
Special jobs must be created
In order to solve the problem, it would be necessary for the data to be processed within two months from when the camera records the violation, according to Pizović.
– And in order for that to be possible, special jobs must be created for that. I know that in each police station, two to three people do this, day and night. Obviously, this is small considering the amount of violations – he says.
Murtezić believes that the possibility of automatic joining of cases should be considered because, among other things, there is a huge number of people who have several dozen speeding violations recorded in one place, and all of which, according to the current system, at least initially, are special cases.
– Thus, even one unregistered vehicle that is driven for just one day longer can ‘form’ a dozen objects – Murtezić states.
The Sarajevo Municipal Court confirmed for Detektor that they will soon hold meetings where they will discuss ways to solve the statute of limitations problem.
(TYPE/Source: Detektor.ba/Author: Lamija Grebo/Photo: Illustration/MUP KS)
