Indictment confirmed against Pirić, Mezetović and Husić

TUZLA, (Patria) - The Municipal Court of Živinice confirmed the indictment of the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Tuzla Canton against Elzina Pirić (39), Nijaz Mezetović (61) and Midhat Husić (45) from Banovići, who are suspected of committing the criminal offense of receiving a reward or other benefit for influence peddling, it was announced from the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Tuzla Canton.

As stated in the announcement, in September 2016, Mezetović, as the president of the Municipal Board of the Party of Democratic Action in Kladanj, and Husić, as the mayor of Banovići municipality in the previous agreement with Elzina Pirić, who was then the president of the Municipal Board of the Party of Democratic Action in Banovići, used their social and influential position and mediated with responsible persons in the Public Enterprise Forests of TK to perform an official act that they should not have performed.

The Prosecutor's Office of Tuzla Canton stated that the accused knew that they were demanding direct discrimination against an employee due to party affiliation and, in doing so, called responsible persons in the mentioned company and the Sprečko Živinice Forest Management, demanding that a person who is a member of another political party and a councilor in the Municipal Council of Banovići be dismissed from the position of manager of the Banovići Forestry and reassigned to work in Sapna due to his previous political appearance at an election rally.

Acting under the influence of the accused, responsible persons in the Public Enterprise Forests of Tuzla Canton partially complied with the mentioned requests and transferred this employee to work in Živinice instead of Sapna, by issuing a termination decision in which he was offered to accept the job in Živinice within eight days. This employee was forced to sign the contract and started working in Živinice, it was announced.

Elzina Pirić is accused of calling the acting director of the Public Enterprise Forests of Tuzla Canton in December 2016 and demanding that she carry out what Mezetović and Husić had previously asked her to do, to assign this person, who was previously transferred from his workplace in Banovići to Živinice, to Sapna, but the director refused to comply with these requests.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Prosecutor's Office with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tuzla Canton, in cooperation with the Federal Police Administration, it was announced from the Prosecutor's Office of Tuzla Canton.