Lawyers for Novalić, Hodžić, and Solak wrote to Schmidt: Your report contains inaccurate data and misled the public

(Patria) - Ahead of Christian Schmidt's report to the UN Security Council today, and after the content of what Schmidt will say was published, the legal representatives of Novalić Fadil, Solak Fahrudin, and Hodžić Fikret sent a letter to the OHR, warning Schmidt about the incorrect information stated in the report.

Namely, Schmidt's report also addresses the criminal case that was conducted before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is known as the "Respirator Affair".

"In the section of your report titled 'Conclusion of the Respirator Affair', you state that the Appellate Panel of the BiH Court confirmed the first-instance verdict in that case and that the accused were sentenced to prison terms. In paragraph 171 of your report, you state that the 'charges against Novalić, Hodžić, and Solak included conspiracy to commit various criminal offenses related to abuse of office, accepting rewards or other benefits for trading influence, money laundering, forgery or destruction of business or commercial documents', etc. In essence, you state the charges for which they were tried, but not for which they were convicted.

In fact, all the accused were acquitted of the criminal offense of Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Offenses and the acts attributed to them in connection therewith, meaning they were acquitted of the charges stated in your report. They were convicted of the criminal offense of Abuse of Position or Authority as prescribed by the entity law of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

By stating only that Novalić, Solak, and Hodžić were convicted, and then pointing to the offenses they were charged with, but without stating that they were acquitted of those offenses and simultaneously convicted of the criminal offense of Abuse of Position or Authority, for which, for example, Hodžić Fikret was never charged, a reader unfamiliar with the topic can be misled into believing they were convicted of Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Offenses, thereby creating a half-truth.

Therefore, we request that you include accurate and complete information in your report, which inevitably includes the information that Novalić, Solak, and Hodžić have filed appeals with the Constitutional Court of BiH, pointing out violations of their fundamental human rights, and that a decision from the Constitutional Court of BiH on these appeals is expected," the lawyers' letter to the OHR states.

Lawyers wrote to OHR