Radončić and Others: Part of Trial Closed Due to Security of the Accused

Before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina today, the trial of Fahrudin Radončić, Bakir Dautbašić, Bilsena Šahman, and Zijad Hadžijahić continued, and today Adnan Bešlić, an employee of the Federal Police Administration, who is a forensic expert for seized mobile phones, tablets, USB sticks, and SIM cards, also testified, Patria reports.

Viber messages were presented, and part of the trial was closed to the public because the defense of Bakir Dautbašić stated that public disclosure of conversations between him and Almir Bašić, an employee of the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina, jeopardizes the security of the accused. Namely, in the exchanged messages, they mention, as the defense stated, individuals from the criminal milieu prone to vindictiveness.

Božo Mihajlović, the prosecutor in this case, said that these messages prove preparation for the commission of a criminal offense, but also that this is related to another investigation in the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the process in Kosovo.

The trial panel, headed by Hasija Mašović, accepted this request from the defense, and these Viber messages were read in the closed part of the trial.

Furthermore, messages between Dautbašić and Zijad Hadžijahić, Dautbašić and Radončić, and part of the messages between Dautbašić and Bašić were read.

Hadžijahić, who is the fourth defendant in this case, sent a message to Dautbašić on January 6 in which it said: „They reported from the Prosecutor's Office that they have nothing to do with your suspicions,“ Dautbašić replied: „Around me,“ and after receiving an affirmative answer, Dautbašić wrote: „They are liars.“

Communication with Bašić was also read, in which, among other things, Bašić warns Dautbašić that he should destroy the mobile device he has with a hammer, and that he is telling him this preventively. Also, Mihajlović requested the expert to read the communication between Radončić and Dautbašić on December 21, 2015.

Radončić sent a message to Dautbašić:

Fadil: To inform you about an event. Patient Sabahudin Hukara died at the Maxillofacial Clinic. Assistance was provided by resident Azra Sarić. The on-duty surgeon did not even want to come. She discharged the patient who, after significant bleeding, reported to the ENT department where he died.

Dautbašić replied to this that „the ex is pretending to know nothing about this. These doctors are covering each other up.“. Radončić then said "that he will tell the family. The victim's relatives will be found.“

The defense of Dautbašić clarified that „the ex“ is actually the ex-husband of Bilsena Šahman. Asim Crnalić, Radončić's lawyer, pointed out that he felt the need to clarify that the Prosecutor's Office's position that Radončić organized pressure on witness Azra Sarić through Avaz regarding the Hukara case is wrong.

- You saw that it is precisely about Radončić and Dautbašić discussing mistakes that occur in treatment and the irresponsibility of doctors who allow interns to do things that doctors should do. Azra Sarić as a witness for the Prosecutor's Office has no significance in that conversation at all – Crnalić pointed out.

The defense also had a number of objections to Bešlić's credibility, as well as the legality of the obtained evidence.

- As far as the defense is concerned, this is not a classic expert examination as the Criminal Procedure Code prescribes that the finding and opinion of an expert should look like. This is a document that could be called a finding, but it contains no opinion. In addition, the defense maintains its position that a search of movable property should have been carried out and that legal obligations regulating the search of movable property, including mobile phones, should not have been circumvented by issuing an order for an expert examination of something that practically cannot be examined, and you also testified that everything is strange and that what you heard is not clear. Special explanations from the prosecutor are needed to draw a conclusion about what that means, and the prosecutor draws a conclusion in a way that does not at all follow from the content of the texts you heard – Crnalić pointed out.

The next hearing is scheduled for January 11, 2017, when expert Zvjezdana Skeladžić, who participates in intercepting conversations, will testify. Given that intercepted conversations will be played in court, the defense requested that the Prosecutor's Office precisely indicate which conversations they will play, and after a brief argument, Mihajlović said: "I will play all one hundred hours of conversations.“