Esed Radeljaš Discharged from Clinical Center in Sarajevo in Extremely Poor Health

The health condition of Esed Radeljaš, arrested in November 2016, is extremely poor, and despite this, he was discharged from the Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo last Friday and returned to custody, claims a source of the Patria agency, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Radeljaš is a severe heart patient. He survived clinical death several years ago. Due to inadequate medical care, his life is endangered in the Sarajevo detention center.

In the operation Blok at the end of last year, six people were arrested, among whom the most prominent names are Esed Radeljaš and Damir Hadžić. Today, all are free except Radeljaš. His detention will last until a new decision by the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo, where the judicial process has begun.

Radeljaš held a number of functions both in the Sarajevo Canton and in the Bosnian-Podrinje Canton.

He is charged before the Sarajevo Cantonal Court with criminal offenses of certifying false content, incitement to abuse of position, giving gifts and other forms of benefits, and money laundering. According to the indictment of the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Sarajevo, by committing these criminal offenses, Radeljaš obtained for himself and others an illegal property benefit of about one million KM.

The Prosecutor's Office is trying to prove that Radeljaš first bought a piece of land in the Sarajevo neighborhood of Stup from the Novi Grad Municipality and then sold it to the same municipality at a multiple higher price.

Accomplices charged in the same case were in custody for some time, after which they were released to defend themselves from freedom.

Radeljaš's detention has been extended due to the risk of repeating the criminal offense.

A Patria interlocutor, involved in Radeljaš's judicial process, says it is indicative that Radeljaš is being held in custody due to possible influence on witnesses, while the other accused are free, although without their direct assistance the first accused could not do anything?

Radeljaš's poor health condition plays into the hands of people in leadership positions in the SDA in the first place. The illness has eliminated him from political life. It has been shown that Radeljaš can be an important political opponent. He was a key man in two cases of forming cantonal governments; in the Sarajevo Canton and in the Bosnian-Podrinje Canton. Also, his poor health condition eliminates him as a potential key witness in processes that could be opened parallel to the process for which Radeljaš is now in custody.

From 2013 to 2015, Radeljaš held the position of Chairman of the Management Board of the Health Insurance Institute of Sarajevo Canton. The annual budget of the Health Insurance Institute of Sarajevo Canton is about 350 million KM. During that period, Radeljaš advocated open support for Dr. Sebija Izetbegović, then director of the General Hospital "Dr. Abdulah Nakaš", today the manager of the Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo.

The case of alleged illegal spending of money by the Sarajevo Health Insurance Institute has never been fully explained, the truth of which Radeljaš must know, due to the position he held. There is talk precisely about the illegal transfer of money from the Health Insurance Institute to Sarajevo hospitals, which, if there were any illegalities, could not have passed without the knowledge of the leading people in the SDA.

By preventing Radeljaš from speaking, the possibility that these cases will ever be opened and clarified before the BiH judiciary is reduced.