[JURIST] Bosnian State Court [official website] Judge Azra Miletic was detained by police on Wednesday on suspicion of taking a bribe from former police commissioner Ramo Brkic. The former commissioner was originally sentenced to 11 years [CIN report, in Croatian] in prison for drug dealing and corruption. The appeals court quashed verdicts [Dnevni avaz report, in Croatian] on five counts against Brkic, upholding only one guilty verdict for abuse of office and sentencing him to a year in prison. Miletic was arrested by the State Investigation and Protection Agency on orders from the Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption [official websites]. The court released a statement [text] urging that Miletic’s arrest is proof that no one is above the law. Bosnia’s recent efforts against organized crime relate to their interest in joining the EU, which has expressed concern over the state’s reputation for rampant corruption.

Bosnia’s pervasive corruption stems from the 1990s Bosnian Civil War, a conflict from which the region is still recovering [JURIST op-ed]. Last month the war crimes division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina indicted Dragomir Vasic [JURIST report] on charges of genocide stemming from the conflict. In December police in Bosnia and Serbia, as part of a joint investigation and operation, arrested 15 individuals [JURIST report] accused of perpetrating the 1993 Strpci massacre during the height of the Balkan conflict. The month before, Bosnian police arrested 12 men [JURIST report] suspected of war crimes during the civil war.