Court detains Bosniak-Croat Federation President Zivko Budimir
Members of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s special police escort the President of Bosniak-Croat Federation, Zivko Budimir, out of the building of the Bosnian Presidency after completing a search for evidence in the offices used by Budimir in a corruption case against the high-ranking official, in Sarajevo, on April 26, 2013. President Budimir was later arrested on a warrant issued by Bosnia’s Prosecutor’s Office.
A Bosnian court has ordered President Zivko Budimir of the autonomous Bosniak-Croat Federation and four other officials detained for a month on corruption charges.
Budimir was arrested on Friday along with 19 others in what is being called the most high-profile anti-corruption investigations since Bosnia's independence more than 20 years ago.
He and the other four officials are accused of taking bribes to arrange pardons for convicts. The court demanded his detention because of fear he would try to flee the country with another of the accused, aide Petar Barisic. Both men have Croatian passports.
More from GlobalPost: For action on Syria, some lessons from Bosnia
Budimir's lawyers said they would appeal the ruling.
Bosnia-Herzegovina consists of the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation, both of which are independent and each has its own president, government and parliament.
It is considered one of the most over-governed countries in the world. Aside from the two aforementioned presidents, it has three more, who take care of issues linking the country's two parts.
Bosnia is also one of the most corruption-proned countries in Europe due to its complex administrative framework and its ethnic and political divisions that became apparent during the country's 1992-95 war.