Trial of Sanjin Sefić postponed, Court has not received traffic expertise report

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Cantonal Court in Sarajevo has not yet received the report from the repeated traffic expertise in the case of Sanjin Sefić, so tomorrow's hearing will not be held. KS Prosecutor Jasminka Knežević, judge Igor Todorović, and defense attorney Kerim Čelik agreed to postpone the trial, given that Čelik requested 15 days to prepare for the examination of the expert witness and closing arguments.

At the hearing held on December 5, 2019, at the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo, an order was issued to conduct a new traffic expertise in the case of Sanjin Sefić. The expertise was to be carried out by the Faculty of Transport and Communications in Doboj, which informed the court that due to their workload, they could not complete the report for several months. By agreement of the KS Prosecutor's Office, Sefić's defense, and the Court, a decision was made for the expertise to be carried out by permanent court expert Nedim Kamenjašević.

As judge Todorović explained at the last hearing, the expertise was requested due to discrepancies between two previous traffic expertise reports regarding the vehicle's speed, point of impact, and other circumstances.

We remind you that on the night of October 10, 2016, Sanjin Sefić, driving a car at a speed exceeding 100 km/h and running a red light, hit students Selma Agić and Edita Malkoč at a pedestrian crossing. He then fled the scene, and both died from their injuries. Sefić left Bosnia and Herzegovina the next morning 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 FBiH granted the appeal of the KS Prosecutor's Office, the first-instance verdict was overturned, and a retrial is underway. The new trial for Sefić and his accomplices (except for 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 KS Prosecutor's Office charges Sefić with the criminal offense of a grave offense against public traffic safety (Article 332 of the Criminal Code of FBiH) and the criminal offense of failure to provide assistance to an injured person after a traffic accident (Article 337, paragraph 2), for which a heavier prison sentence is prescribed compared to the initial indictment.