SEBIJA IZETBEGOVIĆ'S MASTER'S DEGREE: Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office checks whether a criminal offense was committed

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – The Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office has not opened an investigation regarding the diploma of Sebija Izetbegović, director of the University Clinical Center Sarajevo and professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Sarajevo.

“In the said case, no investigation has been opened, but checks are being conducted on the authenticity of documents related to postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Medicine in Zagreb to determine whether a criminal offense has been committed. Actions are being taken in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” confirmed Azra Bavčić, spokesperson for the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office, for Patria.

The Cantonal Administration for Inspection Affairs of Sarajevo Canton submitted certain documentation to the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office, based on which the Prosecutor's Office is conducting checks.

Through international legal assistance, the Administration for Inspection Affairs of Sarajevo Canton, on July 19, 2021, via the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, sent a request to the competent authorities of the Republic of Croatia and the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb, for an official statement and confirmation of the authenticity of documents issued by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb in the name of Izetbegović Sebija.

The Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia, based on the request, asked the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb to verify the submitted data on the education of Sebija Izetbegović at that faculty.

Earlier, the Cantonal Administration for Inspection Affairs conducted an inspection at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Sarajevo, after which additional information and checks were requested from institutions in Croatia.

At the end of June, the rector of the University of Sarajevo, Rifat Škrijelj, received a response from the dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb regarding the documentation that Škrijelj had forwarded concerning Sebija Izetbegović. Škrijelj sent a photocopy of Sebija Izetbegović's index issued in Zagreb on March 2, 1993, with a request for a statement on its authenticity. Škrijelj also asked for certificates of the exams passed as recorded in the index to be sent from Zagreb.

“Upon reviewing the archives of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb, we determined that Sebija Izetbegović, born on April 6, 1960, in Titograd, Republic of Montenegro, was enrolled in the first year of the postgraduate study 'Ultrasound in clinical medicine' in the academic year 1992/1993 under student ID number 46920114. In the file of the named person, there is no documentation based on which we could confirm the authenticity of the index and issue a certificate of the exams passed as recorded in the index,” states the response from Prof. Dr. Marijan Klarica, dean of the Faculty of Medicine in Zagreb.

Additional checks were requested because the documentation submitted by Sebija Izetbegović to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Sarajevo regarding the continuation of postgraduate studies included a transcript of grades, i.e., passed subjects, but written by hand. This transcript does not bear the seal of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb, but exclusively that of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Sarajevo. The Patria News Agency previously published photographs of the transcript of grades that Izetbegović submitted to the Faculty of Medicine in Sarajevo. 

In August 1994, Izetbegović submitted a request to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Sarajevo to be allowed to take the remaining exams of the postgraduate study, which involved four exams, as she had passed ten in Zagreb, which was granted.