In recent days, the question of where is the diploma of the Supreme Court judge Branko Masleša has caused quite a stir. Namely, Masleša is said to have graduated from the University of Sarajevo in 1975. We made inquiries about this at the Faculty of Law of the University of Sarajevo, as well as at the Supreme Court, but have not received any answers so far. Masleša has gone down in history as the last judge in Yugoslavia to sentence a man to death, which is also what he is known for abroad. In his long career as a judge, he has amassed a number of other stains on his reputation.
Any person in such an important position – the role of the Supreme Court judge, who acts in good faith, would, given the function he performs and in defence of the reputation of the Supreme Court and the judiciary in general, at least immediately share the information about which professor was the mentor for his diploma thesis, and what was its topic. This would dispel many doubts.
Such an important life event would surely be remembered by a healthy person, capable of performing work. According to the experts, Masleša would do himself a big favour if he just told the public in which year and at which faculty he graduated, even before his alleged diploma is found in Sarajevo.
Masleša is not doing himself any favours with his silence
It should be added that the defence of a diploma thesis is generally open to the public, and Masleša supposedly graduated from a public institution – and the diploma is a public document. By revealing the necessary information about it, Masleša would calm down the discussion until the moment when both the diploma itself, as well as the diploma thesis are found.
And besides, lawyers in academic and professional circles often talk about their former mentors, professors, diplomas and student days, and experts believe that the same conversations are common among judges, so it would be really unusual if judge Masleša refused to reveal at least some of the aforementioned information.
As we have previously reported on Nova24TV, if it turned out that Masleša, who is the Supreme Court judge, does not have a law degree, this would be outright scandalous. It should also be ascertained whether there is a real possibility of the non-existing diploma in question actually being plagiarised. All of these are reasons why Masleša is not doing himself any favours by staying silent on the topic but is instead casting a bad light on the entire judicial system in Slovenia. It is not clear from the publicly available data whether or not Masleša really graduated from the Sarajevo Faculty. However, it is possible that the diploma thesis was not entered into the online registry because he had supposedly completed his education in 1975 already.
Possible compromise of the Slovenian judiciary
However, the most likely scenario is that the faculty will confirm that Masleša did, in fact, graduate at the Sarajevo Faculty and that therefore he has obtained the appropriate education for his position. To get this far without a diploma seems like science fiction. “I simply cannot imagine that, even theoretically, even in my wildest dreams. However, if it turned out to be true, it would, in turn, compromise the judiciary completely. It would literally be completely compromised because this man was the President of the Supreme Court, he was appointed there by the other judges, they supported him at the general session, then he received the support of the Judicial Council, and finally of the parliament as well,” a legal expert from the academic circles commented on the question of Masleša’s diploma thesis.
Sara Kovač
