The Faculty of Law in Sarajevo has sent the Siol web portal the alleged certificate of the diploma of the Supreme Court judge Branko Masleša. As can be seen from the documents, Masleša graduated in 1975 and obtained the title of graduated attorney. We are still waiting for any proof of Masleša passing the bar exam, and in accordance with the Public Information Access Act, we have requested the Supreme Court to send it to us – but so far, we have not received it.
So, here is a short recap of what has been going on. Recently, several hints found their way to social networks about the Supreme Court judge Masleša not having the appropriate legal education. We, therefore, turned to the Sarajevo Faculty of Law and the Supreme Court for clarification, and with the latter, their first response was their threat to sue us.
As we persisted with our questions, they then told us that judges take on the judicial role following the legally prescribed election procedure, as part of which the fulfilment of the conditions for holding a judicial position is also assessed. Therefore, in this respect, any doubts about a judge’s diploma or the fulfilment of the legally determined conditions are, in their opinion, irrelevant. However, after they made the proof of Masleša’s diploma public, certain journalists, for example, Bojan Požar and Luka Perš, are already guessing that it is not genuine. Namely, the signature, as well as the watermark and the coat of arms of the then-state of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are missing from it.
Authenticity is determined by the seal of the university and the signature of the rector and the dean
On the show Tema dneva (Topic of the Day), the host of which is Luka Svetina, journalist Perš initially pointed out what is missing from Masleša’s diploma that was published on the Siol web portal. “First of all, the diploma is not signed, nor does it have the seal. And what is even worse, the diploma clearly states that the seal of the university and the signature of the rector and the dean are needed to confirm that the diploma is genuine. However, none of these elements are actually on Masleša’s diploma, which is also clearly visible,” he pointed out. However, after hearing Perš talk about it, certain Twitter users, such as Libertarec, for example, figured out that the fonts are also incorrect. “So, today, the Sarajevo Faculty has sent us the perfect counterfeit certificate of what should be the diploma of the Supreme Court judge Branko Masleša,” Perš said.
Perš: This is a very fake counterfeit!
Soon after Perš’s claims, diplomas from the former Yugoslavia appeared on Twitter. “Some diplomas also have the emblem or the stamp of the coat of arms of the former republic; all diplomas have all of the elements I have already mentioned before. If you compare the diploma of MP Branko Simonovič and Masleša’s alleged diploma, you can see an obvious difference between the two,” Perš pointed out. Namely, on the diploma of MP Simonovič, you can clearly see both the signature of the dean, as well as the stamp of the university, while this is not the case on Masleša’s alleged diploma certificate. “This is a very fake counterfeit,” Perš was critical.
Another thing is that so far, nobody knows yet when and where Masleša took the bar exam. Perš admitted that he did not dwell for long on this issue, but some other media outlets have. “It seems that they are still looking for any information on where he took the bar exam. He is said to have done it at the time when he was still an employee of the Yugoslav People’s Army, while serving in the military. Marko Štrovs on Twitter also highlighted this example. He made it very clear in his post that it is very illogical for Masleša to be able to finish his bar exam so quickly, but I do not claim that this is true, as I have not dealt with this issue yet.”
An article was recently published on the Necenzurirano (Uncensored) about why “Masleša has to fall,” saying that this is all an affair that was launched by the media outlets in the service of the ruling SDS party. When asked what Perš thinks about this, given the fact that the mainstream media had no problems dealing with the question of MP Branko Simonovič of the DeSUS party’s diploma, while they are not even bothering to check the matter in the case of Masleša’s diploma, Perš answered that this is an obvious representation of one clear fact, namely that the so-called “parallel mechanisms” – the Slovenian media – are willing to protect their networks until the last drop of blood is spilt. Perš thus rejected the theory, which was produced by the Uncensored web portal, and added that, for example, he immediately got involved in the hottest affair of the year when he noticed a certain post on Twitter that read: “I have decided to send you some questions – and so, the affair of the year begins.”
After his last week’s TV appearance, Perš became a sort of internet sensation. Namely, the Uncensored web portal made fun of him, and a lot of nasty comments were written because he is not used to appearing in the studio, and they also made fun of him because of his dialect. When asked how he feels about these insulting comments, Perš responded that they did not really get to him at all. “All of this only gave me more impetus. We know that it is nothing new for every media outlet to be labelled as something. And in my case, I am labelled as Janša’s mercenary, fascist, Nazi.” He stressed that all of this is part of the journalistic profession and something that every journalist must take into account. “I have very thick skin, so these comments cannot really get to me. And thanks again to the Uncensored web portal journalistic trio for the free publicity.”
Sara Kovač
