Final verdict reached in 'Diploma' case, Habibović sentenced to 13 months in prison

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Cantonal Court in Bihać has delivered a final verdict in the case known as "Diploma" and upheld the first-instance verdict of the Municipal Court in Sanski Most, by which Šemsudin Habibović was sentenced to 13 months in prison.

With this verdict, Senad Pehlivan was acquitted, who had also been previously sentenced to 13 months in prison, while Nejri Šabić's suspended sentence of eight months with a probation period of three years was confirmed.

Pehlivan was tried for the criminal offense of receiving a reward or other form of benefit for influence peddling, and the Cantonal Court assessed that the Prosecution in his case did not prove the commission of the criminal offense, while Habibović and Šabić were tried for forgery of official documents.

All of them were actors in the well-known affair that occurred at the end of 2018 and had a strong impact not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina but also beyond its borders. 

Journalist of the magazine "Žurnal" Azra Omerović completed secondary medical school in just 17 days, without attending a single class, and with very good success.

She submitted the documents on December 20, 2018, and received the certified diploma and transcripts for four grades of secondary medical school through an intermediary on January 3, 2019.

The indictment charged Pehlivan with mediating in the bribery of a responsible person, after the journalist contacted him as a person she knew to mediate in the purchase of diplomas.

According to the indictment, he promised her that he would obtain a secondary medical school diploma, profession medical technician, no later than mid-January 2019, and for this service he requested 2,500 marks, which he would share with the persons involved in issuing the diploma.

According to the indictment, Pehlivan then contacted Šemsudin Habibović, the responsible person of the private institution Center for Adult Education "Multilingua" from Sanski Most, who then together with Nejra Šabić, the director of the mentioned institution, created a forged secondary medical school diploma and handed it over to Pehlivan.

When the affair was published in the media, a thorough investigation was launched in this case.

Incidentally, upon the discovery of the "Diploma" affair, the USK police, by order of the Prosecutor's Office of the Una-Sana Canton, seized documentation from the school "Multilingva", and the Ministry of Education began an inspection of the work of this institution and, due to this affair, banned its operation for a period of three years.

In the meantime, an extensive investigation into the issuance of diplomas has been opened, and this case, according to the USK Prosecutor's Office, is still in the investigation phase. 

(Nezavisne novine)