Second year since reporting: Why did the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office summon Muriz Memić as a witness?

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Prosecutor of the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office, Šejla Herceglija, yesterday questioned Muriz Memić, the father of the murdered young man Dženan Memić, whose death has not been clarified for almost three years due to an inadequate investigation, which was also pointed out by family members and lawyer Ifet Feraget.

Namely, the investigation was conducted due to a traffic accident, and the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo passed a first-instance verdict in July 2018, according to which witnesses and experts at the main hearing could not confirm with certainty that a traffic accident had occurred, nor that Memić had sustained injuries in a traffic accident.

From the summons he received from the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office, Muriz Memić did not know the circumstances under which he was to give a statement as a witness, and due to the previous omissions of the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office, the summons caused him additional distress. Although he expected that work had finally begun on uncovering his son's killers, it turned out that the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office was doing the opposite. Accompanied by his lawyer Ifet Feraget, he responded to the summons and only at the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office was it explained to him why he was called as a witness.

It concerned a case from 2017 when his daughter Arijana Memić filed a report at the Ilidža Police Station about her knowledge of her brother Dženan Memić's murder, specifically what Alisa Mutap, the only witness to the events of the night of February 8, 2016, when Dženan Memić sustained fatal head injuries from which he died on February 15, 2016, had stated. Arijana reported at the Ilidža Police Station at the time that the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office had done nothing to find the person whom Alisa Mutap stated "attacked them from behind the tree," and that Alisa's father, Zijo Mutap, had said that Alisa had recognized one of the attackers from a picture at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Sarajevo Canton.

In her statement given to the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office on November 15, 2017, Arijana stated that she believed she was in danger because of all this and was reasonably afraid that something similar might happen to her as to her brother Dženan Memić. Her father, Muriz Memić, was not allowed to enter at the time, and he has now been summoned by the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office to give a statement on the circumstances known to him.

Memić stated that his daughter felt threatened due to Alisa Mutap's reports of alleged threats. In May 2018, the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office suspended the investigation against Arijana Memić and two other individuals in that case because there was no evidence that the criminal offense of endangering security and obstruction of justice had been committed.
Prosecutor Šejla Herceglija heard Muriz Memić regarding the report filed by Arijana Memić at the Ilidža Police Station, and a prosecutorial decision is expected soon.

A decision from the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the appeal of the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office against the acquittal verdict in the case of Ljubo and Bekrija Seferović is also expected soon, and at the same time, Memić has begun giving testimony about his son's murder at the State Prosecutor's Office.