Partially Granted Prosecution's Appeal: BiH Court to Reconsider Indictment Confirmation in Debevec Case!

(Patria) - On July 23, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, deciding on the appeal of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the criminal case of Ranko Debevec and others, issued a decision partially granting the appeal of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, thus annulling the decision of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, case number: S1 2 K 047095 25 Ko of July 8, 2025, and returning the case to the first-instance court for reconsideration, while the appeals of the defendants Ranko Debevec, Osman Mehmedagić, and Milisav Pijuk are rejected as unfounded.

For clarification, on July 8, the BiH Court issued a decision, by which it was determined that the criminal proceedings against Debevec, Mehmedagić, and Pijuk would be transferred to the locally competent Special Department for Handling Corruption, Organized and Inter-Cantonal Criminal Offenses of the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Following the partially accepted appeal of the BiH Prosecutor's Office, the BiH Court will have to issue a decision again on whether to confirm the indictment and try the aforementioned individuals or to insist again on transferring the case to POSKOK (Special Department for Handling Corruption, Organized and Inter-Cantonal Criminal Offenses).

In the second part of today's statement from the BiH Court, it is stated: The panel partially granted the Prosecutor's appeal, annulled the first-instance decision, and returned the case to the first-instance court for reconsideration, with instructions to rectify the deficiencies stated in the decision (i.e., to decide on the indictment).

Simultaneously, considering the reasons for which the Prosecutor's appeal was (partially) granted, the panel assessed that the defense appeals of the suspects, which challenged the decision in a completely different part, namely in the part of determining the locally competent Court, remained unfounded.

Suspects Ranko Debevec, Osman Mehmedagić, and Milisav Pijuk are accused of committing the criminal offense of abuse of office or authority under Article 220, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of BiH, forgery of an official document under Article 226, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code of BiH, in conjunction with Articles 29 and 53 of the Criminal Code of BiH, and the criminal offense under Article 29 of the Law on Gender Equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Law on Gender Equality), false representation under Article 369, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of BiH, and receiving a reward or other benefits for influence peddling under Article 219, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of BiH.