Kvesić and Kordić did not appear for trial: One in a hospital in Croatia, the other stuck in Metković

Accused Josip Kvesić and Boris Kordić did not appear at the Court of BiH, which is why the continuation of the trial for abuses in the Mostar office of the Service for Foreigners' Affairs was postponed.

Kvesić's lawyer Irena Pehar said that her client is admitted to the "Sveti duh" hospital in Zagreb due to health problems.

"According to the confirmation I received from the hospital, Kvesić was admitted to the hospital on September 22, diagnosed with angina pectoris and anxiety, and remains there for treatment until further notice," Pehar said.

Accused Boris Kordić also did not appear in the courtroom, and his lawyer Ragib Hadžić said that the accused started from Metković this morning "but did not arrive on time".

"We spoke by phone this morning and he said he had started. Before entering the courtroom, I called him, but he was unavailable," Hadžić said.

The indictment charges Kordić, head of the Field Office Mostar in the Service for Foreigners' Affairs, Kvesić, an inspector for foreigners in the Mostar Field Office of the same Service, and Vlatka Puljić, director of the company "Vlamon" Čitluk, with participating in criminal offenses from 2012 to 2014, whose victims and injured parties were mostly foreign citizens, representatives of non-governmental organizations, entrepreneurs or owners of business entities residing or doing business in the Herzegovina region.

According to media reports, Kordić and Kvesić are linked to the case of Josip Šimić, against whom the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo and the State Prosecutor's Office are conducting an investigation regarding the alleged wiretapping of the acting Chief Prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor's Office Gordana Tadić and the Vice-President of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council Ružica Jukić. Allegedly, Kordić and Kvesić gave Šimić a forged SIPA document and fled from BiH. Knowing Croatia's practice in numerous other cases, the scenario of this duo evading justice in BiH is becoming increasingly realistic. Now everything depends on what Šimić will say.

The next hearing is scheduled for October 2.

(BIRN/NAP)