See details of the "Doll" case: Murders, bank robberies, post offices, organized crime...

Regarding the pronouncement of the first-instance verdict in the “Doll” case, which imposed over 100 years in prison, the BiH Prosecutor’s Office has provided the media and the public with details about the case and the operation that preceded the arrest of the convicted, writes Patria.

Operational teams of SIPA and the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH began working on the “Doll” operation in mid-2011 in utmost secrecy. The goal of the operation was to discover and prosecute perpetrators of the most serious criminal offenses and leaders of organized crime in Sarajevo, East Sarajevo, and across BiH. The suspects targeted by the operation constituted a multi-ethnic criminal organization, whose branches operated in both BiH entities.

A team from the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH worked on the case along with dozens of police operatives from SIPA, the BiH Border Police, the MUP of RS, the Federal Police Administration, and OSA BiH provided assistance.

Special investigative measures, surveillance, and telecommunication interception were used in the investigation.

This is the most extensive organized crime case ever prosecuted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and even in the region.

During the trial, hundreds of material evidence items were submitted:

- During the commission of robberies and attempted robberies, two of which were carried out in the area of East Sarajevo and two in the area of Sarajevo Canton, members of this criminal organization often used clothing, equipment, masks, and vehicles with police markings, resembling police uniforms and equipment. 

- The accused in this case are charged with committing a series of serious criminal offenses as members of an organized criminal group, with clearly divided tasks and roles, with the aim of acquiring illegal financial gain, as well as serious murders that had severe consequences for the security of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

- The criminal offenses for which this organized criminal group is charged have had consequences throughout BiH and neighboring countries. A number of the accused are citizens of BiH and Serbia, and some of the accused are undergoing prosecution or serving sentences in Serbia. 

- Extremely good cooperation was achieved in this case with the prosecutor's offices, courts, and police in the Republic of Serbia, and the work on this case represents an excellent example of interstate cooperation in the fight against organized crime.

- The indictment filed in 2013 included 32 individuals, making it the largest indictment in an organized crime case ever prosecuted in the judiciary of BiH, and even the Western Balkan region.

- A total of six murders and attempted murders, unresolved for years, were solved in this case, committed in the style of mafia liquidations, in armed ambushes, so-called “ambushes” or remote activation of explosive devices in the Sarajevo and East Sarajevo areas, which instilled fear and insecurity among citizens.

- Robberies of banks, money transports, and post offices totaling over 10 million KM were solved.

- Among the 32 accused, three were police officers, thus delivering a decisive blow against illegal conduct within police structures.

- Faced with strong evidence, some of the accused pleaded guilty by agreement and were sentenced to several years in prison.

- In previously concluded proceedings based on plea agreements or in separate proceedings within the case codenamed “Doll”, 55 years in prison have already been legally imposed.

The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH states that the operation codenamed “Doll” showed that our country has a prosecutor’s office and police agencies capable of fighting the most severe forms of organized crime. This fight has continued intensely after this case, with the aim of ensuring the rule of law and security for the lives of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

- The operation dismantled the largest criminal organization in BiH, which resulted in a decrease in the number of unresolved serious criminal offenses after 2013.

Criminal offenses for which the accused in the “Doll” case are charged, among others:

- The murder of Vladimir Mačar, in Pale, in January 2008, by an explosive device mounted on a previously stolen vehicle. Vladimir Mačar was killed in this incident, another person, Milan Vlaškić, died from his injuries, and a bystander, Rade Magazin, was seriously injured and later died from his injuries, and several people were wounded. 

- The murder of Boris Govedarica, committed in August 2007, near the shopping center in Lukavica. The murder was carried out by shooting the victim with automatic weapons, specifically two submachine guns, with more than 15 bullets, which led to immediate death. The murder was committed at a busy intersection, posing a great danger to the safety of citizens. 

- The murder of Zoran Golub in August 2008, in the "Sport" cafe in East Sarajevo. The said person was killed in a catering facility, where more than 40 bullets were fired at him from two submachine guns, which, in addition to the murder, posed a great danger to the lives of all persons present. 

- The separate case against Mladen Ždrale concerned the triple murder in the Vraca settlement in November 2005, when Milorad Todorović, Radomir Janković, and Esad Šenderović were killed, and Murat Komarica was wounded. Mladen Ždrale was legally convicted of aiding and abetting this crime and sentenced to 15 years in prison, and according to the collected evidence, the perpetrator of the murders was Boris Govedarica, who was killed in 2007 in East Sarajevo.

- The planning and two attempted murders of Đorđe Ždrale, committed during 2006 in the area of East Sarajevo, by shooting Đorđe Ždrale with firearms. During the first attempted murder, Đorđe Ždrale was seriously wounded by several shots from firearms. 

- The robbery of the money transport of Privredna banka Sarajevo, in the amount of 2.2 million euros (about 4.4 million KM), which was committed in the Nedžarići settlement in Sarajevo in June 2006, when the vehicle transporting the money to the airport was robbed. 

- The robbery of the money transport of Pavlović International bank from Bijeljina, committed in August 2005 in the Han Pijesak area, by intercepting the vehicle transporting the money, when about 1.8 million KM was stolen.

- The attempted robbery of money from Nova banka a.d. Bijeljina, East Sarajevo branch, in November 2005, in the amount of about 2.2 million KM, when security guards transporting the money, after being shot at, used their weapons and wounded the robbers in the exchange of fire, after which the robbers fled towards Sarajevo. 

- The robbery of about 670,000 KM from Post Office 2 in Sarajevo, in June 2009, when money was stolen in an armed robbery, and the perpetrators fled in a van, which they later set on fire.