Croatia issues arrest warrant for Zdravko Mamić

OSIJEK, (Patria) - The County Court in Osijek has issued an arrest warrant for Zdravko Mamić, who was today convicted in absentia to six and a half years in prison for embezzling money from Dinamo, reports Index.

After the police officially determine that Mamić cannot be reached, an international warrant will be issued for him.

- After the Ministry of Interior determines at which border crossing the defendant left Croatia, as according to available data he is in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the court will order the police to issue an international warrant, based on which Mamić can be arrested in any country outside the EU. If the defendant is found in an EU member state, a European arrest warrant will be issued - court spokesperson Miroslav Rožac told Hina.

However, regardless of the warrant, Mamić will not be extradited to Croatia. He has dual citizenship, both BiH and Croatian, so the BiH Minister of Security Dragan Mektić has already stated that the law is clear and stipulates that Mamić cannot be extradited to Croatia.

However, this is not an obstacle for Mamić to serve his sentence in BiH. He recalled that Croatia has the option to request BiH to accept and implement its court verdict, as has happened in the past, for example, in the case of Branimir Glavaš.

In such situations, the BiH Court is competent to formally review the verdict issued in another country and issue an order for its execution.

The BiH Court has so far, as a rule, confirmed such verdicts without modification, although it theoretically has the option to reduce the imposed sentence.

Therefore, if Zagreb requests that Mamić serve his sentence in BiH, based on the existing interstate agreement and when the verdict becomes final, it will be so, stated the BiH Minister of Security Dragan Mektić in Sarajevo.