Omar Mehmedbašić released, will cooperate with KS Prosecutor's Office as a witness

14:30

Lawyer Omar Mehmedbašić, who was arrested in yesterday's FUP operation, has been released, and the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office issued a statement stating that a third person was questioned as a witness.

- On 04.12.2015, suspects Bezdrob Ekrem and Selimović Pašaga were handed over to the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Sarajevo by order of the acting prosecutor, due to the existence of a well-founded suspicion that they committed the criminal offenses of accepting gifts and other benefits under Article 380 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, disclosure of official secrets under Article 388 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and failure to report a criminal offense or perpetrator under Article 345 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This follows an operation by the Federal Police Administration, which, in cooperation and under the supervision of the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Sarajevo, began on 03.12.2015 around 3 PM, when three individuals were deprived of their liberty. One person, after deciding to cooperate with the law enforcement authorities, was questioned as a witness.

Namely, there is a well-founded suspicion that the suspects Bezdrob Ekrem and Selimović Pašaga, as officials working as registrars for the execution of criminal sanctions at the Municipal Court in Sarajevo, during the period from 2013 to 24.11.2015, at the Municipal Court in Sarajevo, requested and received gifts or promises of gifts or other benefits from convicted persons and lawyers to arrange the postponement of prison sentences to which they were convicted or the substitution of prison sentences with house arrest with electronic monitoring – a bracelet. Furthermore, they unauthorizedly disclosed information that constitutes official secrets and did not report individuals who gave money for the aforementioned services.
The Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Sarajevo will make a decision regarding further measures for the aforementioned suspects by the end of today.

In yesterday's FUP operation, two employees of the Municipal Court Sarajevo, Ekrem Bezdrob and Pašaga Selimović, as well as the well-known Sarajevo lawyer Omar Mehmedbašić, were arrested on suspicion of taking bribes, corruption, and mediating in the postponement of prison sentences, writes the BH news agency Patria.

Senad Kreho, Omar Mehmedbašić's lawyer, confirmed that his client has not yet been questioned, and his client's office was also searched.

The arrested individuals will be questioned by a prosecutor from the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of KS, and the FUP operation was carried out by order of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo. The Cantonal Prosecutor's Office confirmed to Patria that more information about this case will be known during the day around 3 PM.