Pašić's nervousness is now clear: Court advises prosecutor and seeks amended indictment against Hodžić, defense offers no comment!

By Amina Čorbo-Zećo

All those who attended the new trial before the Appellate Panel of the Court of BiH in the case against Fikret Hodžić and the company FH Srebrena malina witnessed the great nervousness of the acting prosecutor Džermin Pašić.

His requests to open a window, to read while seated, to send a colleague to the office because he forgot some files were signs that something was not right. We will find out the answer soon.

Namely, Raport reported that the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina asked the Prosecutor's Office of BiH to adjust the indictment against Fikret Hodžić and his company FH Srebrena malina, who are being retried for the illegal procurement of ACM812 ventilators, paid for from the budget at around 10.5 million KM.

Defense offers no comment. Lawyer Mirna Avdibegović told Patria that she has no comment and no specific information.

"The defense is not aware of any letter from the Court. It is inappropriate for me to comment on media reports and to learn anything about an ongoing case outside of court proceedings," said Avdibegović.

But when it comes to the 'Ventilators' case, we have seen it all, including that the accused were convicted even before the official verdict, and the case had a media plan, which both prosecutors and defense attorneys publicly discussed. The Constitutional Court of BiH sealed the case, but the American Embassy's hero of the month apparently doesn't know how to proceed, so he's taking instructions from the Court!?

Because, to everyone's surprise in the courtroom, prosecutor Džermin Pašić read the entire indictment from 2022. It is interesting that there are no changes in the indictment, which Pašić confirmed before the Appellate Panel.

And by rule, the Court should act on it, because the prosecutor has the discretionary right to decide on his indictment. However, the Court is now asking the prosecutor to adjust the indictment, clearly with the aim of convicting Fikret Hodžić somehow. Because it remains unclear why the Court is interfering in the prosecutor's work, when the Constitutional Court of BiH clearly stated that the doubt as to whether the convicted person knew what they were accused of should be removed.

This opens serious questions about the independence of the judiciary and the balance of power between the Court and the Prosecutor's Office. If the Constitutional Court of BiH has already ruled that Hodžić and "Srebrena malina" did not have a fair trial because they did not know what they were specifically accused of, is this "adjustment" now an attempt to correct a procedural error or to find a way to convict at all costs?

How will that doubt be removed by changing the indictment? This sounds like a layman's explanation of new absurdities in the case known as 'Ventilators'.

"It is necessary to amend the indictment by separating the parts that represent a legally concluded matter, and to adapt the factual and legal qualification to the procedural situation in which this case is located in relation to the currently specifically accused persons," states the order of the Court of BiH, sent to Pašić, which Raport had access to.

The Court of BiH reminds prosecutor Pašić that domestic procedural legislation is based on the accusatorial system, and that the disposition of the indictment, as well as the burden of proof, is his right and obligation, which is causally linked to the outcome of the proceedings.

It is as if the prosecutor is being advised to write the operative part of the verdict, so that the Court can say that he was convicted of what he was accused of. It is not uncommon for the Court to return an indictment for revision, but this is usually done in the phases before its confirmation, but for the prosecutor to be advised on how to formulate the accusation after he has declared himself and read the indictment at the hearing is a precedent.

Because, we repeat, precisely in the principle of accusation, the Court only decides on the prosecutor's indictment and has no right to interfere in his work.

We remind you that in this case, the Constitutional Court granted the appeal of Fikret Hodžić and the legal entity "F.H. Srebrena malina" LLC and determined a violation of the right to a fair trial of these appellants in the part of the contested verdict of the Court of BiH which decided on their objection that they did not know what they were accused of.

The Constitutional Court considers that the submitted verdicts did not remove the doubt that the appellants were facing the legal qualification of the crime for which they were convicted in the first-instance verdict for the first time, and that therefore they could not prepare their defense.

"Therefore, the Constitutional Court decided to return the case in that part to the Court of BiH, which will remove the established violation of the rights of these appellants," the Court states.

In relation to Fadil Novalić and Fahrudin Solak, it was determined that the right to a fair trial was violated in the "Ventilators" case, but there will be no new trial!