First indictments for election fraud in Brčko

The Prosecutor's Office of Brčko District BiH has filed an indictment against Stojan Bavarčić (30) on suspicion that he prepared the commission of the criminal offense of fraud in voting prior to the local elections in this city last year. He is accused of creating conditions for the direct commission of this criminal offense by obtaining personal documents of third parties and registering them for voting from abroad.

He is charged with obtaining personal identification cards, driver's licenses, or passports from over thirty individuals with the aim of securing more votes for a political entity known to him, which he then photographed. A certain number of such photographs were obtained through social networks and applications and stored in his phone's memory. These documents were then submitted in printed form during August 2020, without their knowledge and consent, to the Central Election Commission of BiH along with PRP-1 forms for voting from abroad, based on which these individuals were registered to vote from abroad against their will – the indictment states.

Following an investigation, during which Bavarčić was immediately detained at the outset, the Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against him, accusing him of acquiring means and undertaking other actions that create conditions for the direct commission of a criminal offense, for which a prison sentence of three years or more can be imposed. Before the Basic Court of the District, which confirmed the indictment in its entirety, he is accused of the criminal offense of Preparation of a Criminal Offense (Article 333 of the Criminal Code of Brčko District BiH).

Among other things, the focus of the District Prosecutor's Office's work in recent months has been on detecting and prosecuting criminal offenses in the electoral field in this area. In connection with the conduct of local elections last year, this prosecutor's office opened six cases against ten suspects in a short period, while also taking jurisdiction over two cases submitted by the state prosecutor's office and the Central Election Commission of BiH. Among the suspects are representatives in the then-convoked Assembly of Brčko District, Pejo Mendeš*, Nenad Kojić*, and Radoslav Bogićević*, who have re-submitted their candidacies for these positions. Before the elections themselves, the suspects for preparing election fraud were detained due to the risk of influencing witnesses, and investigations against them have been intensively continued in the meantime.