Trial begins for former OSA Director Osman Mehmedagić over diploma

(Patria) - The trial of the former director of the Intelligence-Security Agency (OSA) Osman Mehmedagić, accused of abuse of office to remain in a position for which he did not meet the requirements, has begun with the reading of the indictment and opening statements.

The indictment accuses Mehmedagić of performing the duties of the Director of OSA from 2019, when his diploma from the Faculty of Business Studies in Banja Luka was annulled, until 2023, when he was dismissed, without the required higher education.

“He is concealing the fact that he no longer has a diploma, however, what he is doing is using his position to hide this fact,” prosecutor Sanja Ljuboje Romić said in her opening statement.

According to the indictment, Mehmedagić issued an instruction to mark all personnel files of OSA employees, including his own, as “confidential”. The prosecutor noted that diplomas are public documents that cannot be marked as secret.

The indictment states that when a parliamentary commission asked Mehmedagić to explain the allegations that he did not meet the legally prescribed conditions for performing the duties of the Director of OSA, he submitted two diplomas, misleading the commission members.

“One regarding degree classification from the Faculty of Law in Sarajevo and another by which he obtained a bachelor's degree in international law from the American University in Tuzla, although he knew that he had never studied at the American University nor obtained any degree from this faculty, and which diploma he obtained in an unknown manner,” the indictment states.

It is added that the accused also marked the correspondence to the parliamentary commission as “confidential”, all with the intention of restricting access to the documents and preventing their forwarding to other bodies.

According to the indictment, Mehmedagić obtained personal income totaling 293,000 marks through abuse of office. Ljuboje Romić emphasized that, not counting this amount for which the budget was damaged, he harmed the reputation of BiH by holding a position for which he did not meet the requirements in an agency that handled very serious matters.

The prosecutor stated that this act is classified as a high-level corruption offense.

The defense stated that they will not present an opening statement until the Prosecution presents its evidence.

“At this moment, I can only say that we will prove that our client did not commit the criminal offense he is charged with,” said defense attorney Senka Nožica.

The hearing of the first witness is scheduled for April 15.