Cikotić serving prison sentence, will attend BiH Court hearings from Vojkovići for war crimes trial

(Patria) - Selmo Cikotić, former state minister, arrived at the state prison in Vojkovići today. Cikotić will serve his three-year prison sentence there. This information was confirmed to portal N1 by the director of the Institution for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions, Detention, and Other Measures in BiH, Siniša Perković.

Cikotić was finally sentenced to three years in prison for abuse of office, after the state Prosecutor's Office's appeal regarding the length of the sentence was rejected.

“The first-instance verdict established that Cikotić, as the Minister of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, abused his official position, thereby committing the prolonged criminal offense of abuse of office or authority. He was sentenced to three years in prison,” the BiH Court announced at the time.

As stated in the indictment, Cikotić illegally amended the terms of the contract for the sale of surplus obsolete weapons, ammunition, and military equipment, without informing his deputies or the Presidency of BiH.

When the indictment was filed, it was stated that Cikotić, instead of obsolete weapons and ammunition for write-off and sale, delivered higher quality and more expensive weapons and ammunition to a Croatian company after the contract amendments.

Cikotić served as the Minister of Defence of BiH from 2006 to 2011, and from 2020 to 2023, he held the position of state Minister of Security.

In December last year, the BiH Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against Cikotić and two other individuals for war crimes against prisoners of war during the conflict between the Army of BiH and the Croatian Defence Council in the Bugojno area, central Bosnia. This means Cikotić will attend the trial in another proceeding from Vojkovići prison.