Radončić and Others: Border Police Officer Almir Bašić Testifies, Part of Trial Completely Closed to the Public

At the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, after a month-long break, the trial in the case against Fahrudin Radončić and others continued today with the testimony of Almir Bašić, an employee of the Border Police of BiH, reports the Patria news agency.

The indictment charges Radončić, along with Bakir Dautbašić, Bilsena Šahman, and Zijad Hadžijahić, with committing criminal acts as an organized group, obstructing the work of the judiciary, and giving or receiving a reward for trading in influence.

Bašić, during the period when the alleged crime was committed according to the BiH Prosecutor's Office, served as the head of the Central Investigation Office of the BiH Border Police. Today, Bašić is the head of the Office for Strategic Planning and European Integration.

Witness for the BiH Prosecutor's Office, Bašić, stated in response to questions from prosecutor Božo Mihajlović that he knows Bakir Dautbašić through work and that they became friends over time, working together on many security-related projects, as Dautbašić was the secretary of the BiH Ministry of Security.

He recounted that in December, just before one of Dautbašić's trips, he learned from Bakir that they were "trying to frame him for influencing a witness."

- I didn't know at the time which case it was or who the person was. Only when Dautbašić was arrested did I find out it was about Azra Sarić. Bakir told me that a person came to his girlfriend Bisa's (Bilsena Šahman, editor's note) apartment and asked him for some enormous favors, and he told her he wouldn't and couldn't fulfill them, and that he told her to only tell the truth during her testimony. Given that I know Dautbašić has had major personal problems in the last two years, I advised him to calm down and that if everything he told me was true, he had no reason to worry - Bašić emphasized.

This police officer said he communicated with Dautbašić in various ways, over dinners, coffees, by phone, via Viber...

- Once he asked me to check with Aner or Suad (Aner Hadžimahmutović and Suad Hasanspahić, long-time SIPA employees, editor's note) whether there was a report against him. I didn't do that for several reasons. My goal was to calm him down. Later he told me he wrote a statement and sent it to several addresses. I didn't agree with that decision, because as a police officer I believe you have no reason to defend yourself against something you're not guilty of, but I didn't tell him that. I understood his need to protect himself, because at that time he was a candidate for minister and I saw that it mattered to him - Bašić emphasized.

Prosecutor Mihajlović asked Bašić to say whether Dautbašić asked him to check if there was anything in the Prosecutor's Office regarding him.

- No, he didn't ask that. But in January, during a conversation with prosecutor Dubravko Čampara, I asked him: "Does our friend have problems?" Čampara didn't understand who I was talking about, so I said the Ministry of Security, to which Čampara replied: "The secretary - I don't know anything." I asked out of curiosity, knowing that Čampara and Dautbašić were friends, because they had organized several things related to the fight against terrorism - Bašić emphasized.

Furthermore, Bašić also explained why he advised Dautbašić to destroy his phone.

- Knowing he had entered politics, I was afraid someone might steal his phone and possibly blackmail him. I told him to buy another phone and destroy that one, because it crossed my mind that someone might be following him. I also advised him not to engage in communication with that person anymore and not to ask around, because if he's not guilty, everything will fall into place - Bašić emphasized.

Tatjana Savić, the defense attorney for Bakir Dautbašić, during prosecutor Mihajlović's question: "Are you familiar with a person nicknamed Zika?" requested the exclusion of the public, with which the prosecutor agreed, so the public was excluded from the courtroom for half an hour. This involves a set of questions that, according to Savić, have nothing to do with the indictment and could compromise the defendant's safety and endanger professional or state secrets.

Incidentally, Savić had only a few questions for Bašić, who confirmed to her that Dautbašić never asked him to gather any information about Azra Sarić.

- We believe that Bašić's testimony largely went in favor of my client, which is why I had a small number of questions - Savić emphasized after the trial.

The next hearing is scheduled for August 24, when two new witnesses for the Prosecutor's Office, Jasminka Tanović and Mirza Hukeljić, will appear before the court.

Incidentally, the Court of BiH granted Fahrudin Radončić's request to cancel the trial scheduled for August 31, because he has a scheduled session of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly that day.

- Honorable Court, my hand represents 20 percent of the Bosniak votes, and that day there are 17 laws on the agenda - Radončić stated.