Traffic Expert Report Not Completed: Sanjin Sefić Trial Postponed to January 15

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – The trial at which the findings of the traffic expert report in the case of Sanjin Sefić were to be presented, along with closing arguments in the retrial, will not be held on January 3 but has been postponed to January 15.

At the hearing held on December 5, 2019, at the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo, an order was issued for a new traffic expert report in the case of Sanjin Sefić. The expert report was to be conducted by the Faculty of Transport from Doboj, which informed the court that due to their workload, they could not complete the findings even within several months. By agreement between the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office, Sefić's defense, and the court, a decision was made for the expert report to be conducted by permanent court expert Nedim Kamenjašević. His findings will be presented on January 15. This information was confirmed to Patria by Amir Agić, the father of the deceased Selma Agić.

As Judge Todorović explained at the previous hearing, the expert report was requested due to discrepancies between two previous traffic expert reports regarding vehicle speed, point of impact, and other circumstances.

We remind that on the night of October 10, Sanjin Sefić, driving a car at a speed exceeding 100 km/h and running a red light at a traffic light, hit students Selma Agić and Edita Malkoč on a pedestrian crossing, after which he fled the scene. Both died from their injuries. The following morning, Sefić left Bosnia and Herzegovina via the Uvac border crossing and fled to Serbia. He was extradited in January 2017. In September 2018, the Cantonal Court sentenced him to 14.5 years in prison, while his accomplices were acquitted. The Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina upheld the appeal of the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office, quashed the first-instance verdict, and a retrial is underway. The new trial for Sefić and his accomplices (except his sister Sara Sefić) began in early July 2019.

His accomplices Dino Alić, Saud Nišić, and Amar Salihović signed plea agreements and were sentenced to prison terms.

In the amended indictment, the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office charges Sefić with the criminal offenses of a serious criminal offense against the safety of public traffic (Article 332 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and the criminal offense of failing to provide assistance to an injured person after a traffic accident (Article 337, paragraph 2), for which a higher prison sentence is prescribed compared to the original indictment.