Faruk Balijagić exclusively for Patria: I suffered because I angered Dalida Burzić!

Faruk Balijagić is the only Bosnian-Herzegovinian lawyer for whom an arrest warrant is currently issued. The warrant was issued by the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo. The Prosecutor's Office accuses Faruk Balijagić and his son Ado Balijagić of inciting two individuals to murder a third individual.

According to the indictment, the Balijagići allegedly persuaded Eldan Žigović and Nebojša Glavaš to murder Adnan Maglić. At least, that is what Žigović, Glavaš, and Maglić reported.

Faruk Balijagić is currently in Croatia. He is also a Croatian citizen. He is unavailable to the BiH judiciary. Ado Balijagić has been in custody in Zenica for 15 months. His lawyers claim that Ado does not have the right to a fair trial. The court does not allow him to present key defense evidence.

The indictment against Balijagić was filed at the end of 2015.

In an exclusive interview with Patria, Faruk Balijagić explains how he spends his days in Croatia and why he believes the indictment against him was fabricated by Cantonal Prosecutor Dalida Burzić.

Patria: You are a Croatian citizen. You have a passport. What is your current status in Croatia, can you move freely around the country?

Balijagić: I move freely around Croatia. I have no problems here. The moment Croatia decides to try me, the entire procedure will be initiated and carried out. Until then, I wait.

Patria: What stage is your case in? Why hasn't the trial in Croatia started yet?

Balijagić: The Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton does not agree to my trial in Croatia. Their reaction is expected, because if the trial were held in Croatia, the entire conspiracy of the KS Prosecutor's Office against me would be revealed. Actually, I don't want to generalize, there are honest people in the KS Prosecutor's Office, but in the case of my trial before the court in the Republic of Croatia, the conspiracy of Prosecutor Dalida Burzić and certain individuals from the police against me would be revealed.

Balijagić with a Patria journalist

Patria: So, you accuse Cantonal Prosecutor Dalida Burzić of being behind your case? Have you also filed a criminal complaint against the prosecutor? What specifically do you accuse her of?

Balijagić: Even before this incident, during trials in Sarajevo, I presented facts and evidence about Dalida Burzić's corruption. I presented examples where people received four or five months in prison for a seven-year criminal offense, which they committed systematically, such as blackmail, extortion..., while other people received seven to eight years in prison for the same offense.

This indicated Dalida Burzić's corruption. I stated this publicly. This bothered Prosecutor Burzić, and of course, it all resulted in the creation of a fabricated criminal proceeding against me. I suffered because I angered Dalida Burzić.

All judges of the Cantonal Court are afraid of her. She holds the position of Chief Prosecutor, where she can have you detained without any proven guilt.

I was supposed to be arrested at all costs. Even if I hadn't been in BiH at that time, I would have been arrested anyway. But I believe that individuals are behind this case, and that is what encourages me.

My house was never searched, even though money was allegedly found there, and where the murder was allegedly incited. The apartment of my son-in-law in Sarajevo, who has nothing to do with the crime, was searched.

At the same time, two inspectors from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Sarajevo Canton have been intensively cooperating with Nebojša Glavaš, a heroin addict and dealer, whom I allegedly incited to murder. He admitted his cooperation with the MUP inspectors in court. He said that he did nothing outside of what the inspectors instigated him to do. To this day, no one has been sanctioned for this.

All of this indicates that there is a hand that wants to eliminate me. I don't even think that Bakir Izetbegović himself can be connected to this process, although some circles have tried to portray it that way.

These are simply rogue centers of power that have exclusively their own interests.

Patria: What would happen if you went to BiH now? Would you be arrested? Why are you not defending yourself in BiH?

Balijagić: Absolutely. There is an arrest warrant for me. These are very serious charges, and of course, I would be arrested. I am very sorry that the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo refused to extradite the case to the Republic of Croatia. However, relying on the current legislation in Croatia, I believe that Croatia will ultimately have to organize a trial for me in Croatia.