Winners of the  EU Investigative Journalism Award 2014 for Bosnia and Herzegovina are Branka Mrkić Radević and Dalibor Tanić, co-authors of the documentary feature "Afera: Povratak" ("Affair: Repatriation"). The story was published by online magazine Žurnal, an NGO media project founded by a professional group of journalists that gathered to preserve the hard-earned journalistic integrity.    

The winning story "Affair: Repatriation" investigates irregularities with the expenditure of the money intended for the return of refugees and persons displaced during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is estimated that about 5 million Euros of that money was in some way embezzled, stolen from returnees, ever since the State took the responsibility to manage the funds for the return of refugees and displaced people back in 2007. Large number of people in B&H still live in so called “refugee settlements” in terrible conditions, with no running water or electricity, in spite millions that were donated to create conditions for sustainable return of these people to their homes. Even though State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) submitted a report on this matter to the Prosecutor’s Office of B&H, the indictment was never issued so state officials suspected of committing embezzlement are still on their positions. 

 

Dalibor Tanic, co-author of the winning story, said the winning of the EU Investigative Journalism Award is an extremely important moment in his professional career: "This is my first award in BiH and I am very glad that the prize is awarded by the European Union, the institution to which we all strive, especially in the context of freedom of speech and standards in journalism. This prize will surely oblige me to continue with high quality research work. I share the prize with my colleague Branka Mrkić Radević, the award is confirmation of our joint efforts", he concluded. 

 

Branka Mrkić Radević said the movie is focused on the needs and the misuse of the funds  intended for the returnees: “unfortunately we had awfully a lot of material from the field, because there are a lot of examples of such misuses", she said, adding: “Dalibor and I concluded that this is not and it cannot be a finished story, because in Bosnia and Herzegovina we still have 121 collective centers and (…) close to 100 000 internally displaced persons”. 

 

Dalibor Tanic has been working as a journalist since 2005; he has worked for Radio 202, Žurnal and print magazine Start BiH. His colleague and co-author Branka Mrkić Radević is an award winning journalist with experience in print and online media – magazines Zurnal, Global and Start BiH. 

 

Total of 49 investigative stories were nominated in 2015 EU Award in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is the highest number of nominations out of all the countries where this award was launched.