Edin Garaplija: Para-intelligence structure is making a criminal out of me, now I will pay them back

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH filed an indictment against Dragan Mektić, Igor Golijanin, Samir Agić and Edin Garaplija on December 30, 2019, for abuse of position and authority, i.e., committing the criminal offense of high-level corruption that damages the international reputation of BiH. 

While Mektić denies all allegations of the indictment, claiming it is a staged process, Garaplija, as the responsible person and owner of the Institute for Fire and Explosion Protection - INZA d.o.o. Sarajevo, stated in the show Vox populi on OBN that all projects were verified by the international community. Garaplija is charged with the extended criminal offense of abuse of position or authority under Article 220, paragraph 3, in conjunction with Article 31 of the Criminal Code of BiH.

According to the indictment, the aforementioned individuals, through abuse of position and authority, committed the criminal offense of high-level corruption that damages the international reputation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and various instances of abuse of position or authority by the highest state officials and employees in the Ministry of Security of BiH during the implementation of an interstate cross-border cooperation project in the field of firefighting, financed by the European Union delegation in BiH, with the project value amounting to 198,454.51 euros, have been documented.

Garaplija admits that INZA d.o.o. was a participant in projects of the Ministry of Security of BiH. 

„They are calling us out for projects that were successfully completed, three or four years ago, verified by the international community, and based on which we received larger project values. Do you think someone in the international community is a fool to give those international projects to someone who is criminalized?” says Garaplija in the show of Mima Šahinpašić. 

He stated that a special war is being waged in BiH, but he does not regret his wartime role, and if he could repeat it, he would do it more wisely.  

„For some, I was a spy, Karadžić's, Mladić's, Serbian, Croatian, American, Iranian, they wrote everything about me - criminal, terrorist,” said Garaplija, who spent five years in prison in Zenica for abuse of position and mistreatment while performing official duties in the case of Nedžad Herenda. The initial indictment was for the kidnapping and attempted murder of Herenda, and Garaplija and two other accused were members of the State Security Service. They received an order to bring in Nedžad Herenda. 

Garaplija also said that a para-intelligence structure exists in BiH today that persecutes true patriots, as is the case with Commander Dragan Vikić. 

„I gave space to certain para-intelligence structures to make a criminal out of me, now I will pay them back. I have both time and documentation,” said Garaplija. 

When asked whether he will enter politics, he did not give a clear answer, but said that „in BiH there is no politics, as one of my professors says.” Garaplija is in the third cycle of studies at the Faculty of Criminalistics, Criminology and Security Studies in Sarajevo. 

When asked about his relationship with the Izetbegović family, he said „neither good nor bad.” 

„Thank God, I have nothing to do with those people.”