Radončić and Others: Defense Unhappy with Decision to File Objections Later

The trial of Fahrudin Radončić, Bakir Dautbašić, Bilsena Šahman and Zijad Hadžijahić, charged with conspiracy to commit criminal offenses of obstructing justice and influence peddling, continued today with the playing of intercepted conversations, Patria reports.

At the very beginning of the hearing, presiding judge of the Trial Chamber Hasija Mašović stated that the Court had decided to determine later, after hearing the disputed conversations which the defense requests be played in a closed session, whether they are private or not, and ordered the BiH Prosecutor's Office to submit such conversations on a separate CD to the BiH Court.

Also, the Court decided that the defense cannot present objections to the evidence immediately, but will do so after the prosecutor finishes presenting the conversations.

Judge Mašović said they made this decision because at the last hearing a number of private matters between the parties were heard, and stated that she does not want to hear anything more about money, investigations, etc. in the courtroom.

The defenses of the accused are dissatisfied with these Court decisions, as evidenced by the statement of Asim Crnalić, attorney for Fahrudin Radončić.

- For me, it was painful and I am completely dissatisfied that conversations of this kind in such an important proceeding are played in a Court of such significance. I believe that this violated the rights of the defense, because it is difficult to convincingly question the content of conversations 15 days after their publication. Otherwise, the prosecutor himself stated the significance of these conversations. At the same time, he revealed the tendency of this proceeding. You heard the prosecutor say that, thanks to the defense which requested that the conversations indicated in the submission be played in a closed session, today we heard nothing that would support the incrimination in the indictment. So, everything we listened to today, we listened to in vain according to the prosecutor's assessment – Crnalić said.

Otherwise, today a series of intercepted conversations between the accused themselves, as well as some others who have already testified before this Court in this proceeding, were played in the courtroom.

Thus, today a conversation between Radončić and Fuad Čibukčić, currently director of the FBiH Environmental Protection Fund, conducted on December 31, 2016, was heard. In this conversation, Čibukčić informs Radončić that in Mlini near Dubrovnik he saw Almir Džuvo (then director of OSA) in the company of Azra Sarić.

Radončić asked Čibukčić to write down the exact time and place where he saw him, and in later played conversations, Radončić informed Safet Oručević and Emir Talirević that a certain Paša from Zagreb also saw Džuvo with Azra in Dubrovnik and wondered „what is this policeman doing with Ćelina's chick“.

Also played was a conversation between Radončić and Emir Talirević in which Radončić says that „as the party talks continue, the staging of a process against him is intensifying more and more“. He asserts that „Bakir is behind everything“, with one desire to take over the party.

- So he will say, oh, Dudo is doing this. What Dudo, Čampara, that's Bakir. Now they will see, let the parties go their own way and the coalition. It is important to me that I have emptied these two chairs and that no one can majorize the Croats anymore – Radončić said.

After the trial, journalists were interested in what Radončić meant by this statement.

- Every BiH politician protects BiH in the best way if he protects not only the interests of his own people, in my case the Bosniak, but also the legitimate interests of Croats, Serbs and others. I have always been against Bosniaks majorizing Croats as the smallest people in BiH and there is no need for any additional speculation – Radončić said.

He also touched upon some intercepted conversations about which he says:

- There are conversations that significantly touch upon the diplomatic-political relations of BiH and other countries, some internal problems, which are not relevant to the trial, but only the Court can decide on that. Today you saw that there are certain confusions; if someone organizes for me to cross the border, it means that I, as a VIP person, as a party president, have a diplomatic passport, I have the right to that type of privileged border crossing. My favorite sentence from the prosecutor is that he needs the closed markings removed so that the public can see at least one incrimination, which means that today he offered nothing with which he would be satisfied – Radončić said.

Regarding Radončić's border crossing, a conversation between Bakir Dautbašić and Almir Bašić was played in which Dautbašić informs Bašić when Radončić will arrive at the Border Crossing and that, if there is a crowd, he should be let through.

Also today, conversations between Dautbašić and Šahman could be heard, and one was so private that the accused Šahman herself asked the Court „how much longer“. Prosecutor Božo Mihajlović admitted that he could have cut out part of that conversation. The courtroom also heard a conversation between Radončić and Safet Oručević, and Radončić and Indira Ćatić, a former editor at Avaz, Dautbašić and Hadžijahić, but the defenses could not object to any of the played conversations because the Court so decided, and this will be done later.

Interestingly, in one of the conversations, Radončić told his interlocutor, speaking about Izetbegović, that those who are listening will certainly convey everything to him, thereby indicating that he knows he is being wiretapped.

The continuation of the trial is scheduled for February 15.