Details from the hearing of Nenad Nešić: 'I am ready to comply with all restrictive measures the Court imposes on me'

(Patria) - A hearing was held today at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding the proposal of the BiH Prosecutor's Office to extend the custody of BiH Security Minister Nenad Nešić, director of the company "Legend" Mladen Lučić, and director of Putevi RS Milan Dakić, who were arrested a month ago in the operation "Tunel 2", reports Faktor.ba.

Prosecutor Bojana Jolović stated that the Prosecutor's Office has interviewed a number of witnesses in the investigation so far and that based on their statements, new evidence has been found, leading to an expansion of the investigation regarding Nešić.

Jolović did not disclose details of this new evidence so as not to, as she said, incriminate the witnesses.

She stated that the Prosecutor's Office has documented influence on one of the witnesses, who, after being summoned to testify, received a phone call in which he was told to pay attention to what he would talk about and to take care of his safety.

She also emphasized that they need additional time to interview the remaining witnesses and to complete the search of phones and necessary expert analyses.

Jolović also said that in the meantime, during the night of January 1st to 2nd, another witness appeared, who came forward voluntarily and said that someone had unauthorizedly accessed his computer, which contains documents from Putevi RS.

Senka Nožica, the defense attorney for Nenad Nešić, said she opposes the extension of custody and requested the Court to impose restrictive measures on her client instead. Alternatively, she proposed that, if the Court does extend custody for the suspects, it be for a shorter period.

Nožica emphasized that Nešić's right to defense was violated because the Prosecutor's Office did not provide them with any evidence, neither with the proposal for extension nor for the initial custody order.

According to her, it is clear that evidence can be withheld from the defense to avoid revealing the aim of the investigation, but it is "impossible" that every single piece of evidence reveals that.

As an example, she cited the financial report of Sanjin Avdić's companies. She also challenged the existence of reasonable suspicion, as well as the jurisdiction of the Court of BiH.

She said there is no evidence that Nešić belonged to the association formed by Sanjin Avdić, adding that Nešić does not know him or any other member of the alleged association mentioned, nor is there any explanation of how he became a member of that association.

- I believe there is not even an indication that our client influenced anyone. Whether he is in custody or not, someone else can influence a witness and attribute that to our client - Nožica stated.

She commented on the statement of a certain Goran Pavlović, who said that Nešić, by influencing witnesses, sought to obtain property gain, and asked how influencing witnesses could lead to obtaining property gain.

Nešić said he is ready to comply with all restrictive measures the Court imposes on him.

Lučić's lawyer, Dragiša Jokić, said that the Court's decision on custody was based on the statements of Sanjin Avdić and Mirko Pandurević, "and that Lučić was not believed."

- Lučić is a suspect, so he has the right to lie. But Avdić and Pandurević are also suspects, so they also have the right to lie. The question is who has the right to lie - the lawyer said.

He claims that the defense submitted certain material evidence to the Prosecutor's Office and challenged the credibility of the witnesses on whose testimonies the reasonable suspicion is based, and that this evidence presented new circumstances that the Prosecutor's Office did not take into account.

As an example, he cited Avdić's statement, who said he gave money to Lučić in November 2019 at a café located in a hotel.

However, they provided evidence that at that location, since 2018, there has been no café, but rather a closed guest lounge of the hotel. Additionally, as he said, Lučić has not spoken to the owner of that facility since 2014.

He also said that Legend and Romanijaputevi have been in a business relationship since 2016, contrary to Pandurević's statement that it was since 2019, at Nešić's urging.

He also said that Lučić had never seen Avdić in his life, while he had a business relationship with Pandurević.

Lučić himself said he knew he was being brought in and that a year ago the prosecuting prosecutor told him he would be questioned on these circumstances.

- If I had wanted to influence, I had enough time and space during that year to do so - Lučić said.

Vanja Budiša, Dakić's lawyer, objected to the jurisdiction of the Prosecutor's Office and the Court of BiH, and said there is no reasonable suspicion for the criminal offenses charged against his client.

He said that Pandurević made his allegations to secure his own position in this criminal case, that his statement should not have been given credence, and that Pandurević falsely accused Dakić to cover up his own misdeeds.

Regarding the witness who reported the computer intrusion, he said it was Stefan Milić, who, as he says, is "an overly ambitious person" and that he reported it to protect his own illegal actions.

He added that three people working with him have keys to the office, and that "Milić is doing this only to promote himself."

He also blamed Milić for "secretly providing company data to an opposition representative, who used it for his blog" and that "Milić has personal reasons for doing this" and that it is a matter of "political turmoil."

Prosecutor Jolović finally said she opposes the defense's proposal for imposing restrictive measures and maintained the proposal for extending custody, on which the Court will render a decision within the legally prescribed period.