Bojan Bošnjak in pre-trial detention for the third month, KS Prosecutor's Office preparing new motion for the court, minister still not dismissed

(Patria) - Bojan Bošnjak was arrested on November 15, 2024. After one month in detention, the KS Prosecutor's Office requested an extension of two more months, which the Municipal Court in Sarajevo accepted and ordered him to remain in two-month pre-trial detention until February 12 or until a new court decision.

By the end of next week, the prosecutor in charge is expected to submit a new motion regarding the suspected minister Bošnjak. It is currently unknown whether an extension of detention or some form of restraining order will be sought, and everything will depend on the collected evidence and conducted expert examinations.

Bošnjak served as the Minister of Communal Economy, Infrastructure, Spatial Planning, Construction, and Environmental Protection for exactly one year (from November 15, 2023, to November 15, 2024) at the proposal of Our Party when he was arrested in an operation by SIPA. Although he has been in pre-trial detention for the third month, he has not been dismissed from his position and is receiving a salary. The duties of the minister for this department were recently taken over by the Minister of Transport, Adnan Šteta (SDP).

On December 20, the president of Our Party, Edin Forto, told coalition partners that they were ready to cede that position to one of the partners in the future reconstruction of the KS Government. However, in the meantime, neither reconstruction has occurred nor is it known when it will.

However, what is a new circumstance regarding this case is the connection of Forto himself and contacts with the investigator in the case in which Bošnjak is suspected. SIPA confirmed that they are conducting an internal procedure against investigator Jasmin Krnjić, and all details are not yet known, except, as reported by Istraga, that there were contacts between the investigator and Forto, and that a job was promised to the investigator's wife if she stopped or slowed down the investigation in the Bjelašnica case.

Bošnjak is suspected of the criminal offense of abuse of position or authority, and at the last hearing, prosecutor Darko Soldat, explaining the motion, stated that it was determined that before the adoption of a positive Opinion on the Report on the Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment of SRC Bjelašnica, Bošnjak amended the Rulebook on the Internal Organization of the Ministry, retaining only the Environmental Protection Sector headed by Adnan Medić, his assistant.

At that hearing, the prosecutor informed the court that they were awaiting the results of the expert examination of the seized mobile phones from Bojan Bošnjak, Adnan Medić, and the Ministry's secretary, Vildana Smajović.
Prosecutor Soldat also pointed out that there are certain obstructions in the delivery of materials from the KS Government session at which the Opinion was adopted.

Regarding the expert examination of the phones, these activities are being carried out by the Agency for Forensic Examination and Expertise.