NADIN CASE: Sarajevo Cantonal Prosecutor's Office will have to investigate Sebija Izetbegović and pediatricians after all

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Lawyer for the Nadin Smajlović family, Maida Galijatović, confirmed for the Patria News Agency that she received a notification from the Federal Prosecutor's Office stating that the complaint filed against the decision of the Sarajevo Cantonal Prosecutor's Office not to investigate the Nadin Smajlović case was premature and that investigative actions need to be taken. Amina Smajlović, the mother of the girl Nadin, filed a report against the director of KCUS, Sebija Izetbegović, and ten pediatricians of the KCUS Pediatric Clinic at the end of November 2019, due to failure to provide medical assistance to her child and disclosure of professional secrets.

"We requested that the Federal Prosecutor's Office take over the investigation because the Sarajevo Cantonal Prosecutor's Office is not acting lawfully or is under pressure, and that the Federal Prosecutor's Office resolve it. They made a decision on 16.02. at a meeting of the Collegium of the Federal Prosecutor's Office, accepting our complaint as founded. They stated: The Cantonal Prosecutor's Office has not determined decisive facts and has not examined all circumstances relevant to the case, with an order to conduct investigative actions," said Galijatović.

Galijatović emphasized that this is a binding order for the Sarajevo Cantonal Prosecutor's Office, and the Federal Prosecutor's Office supervises the work of cantonal prosecutor's offices and should ensure the legality of their work.

"They must now conduct the investigation. If it were lawful, they must conduct a medical expert examination for every decision of the Prosecutor's Office to determine if there is a cause-and-effect relationship, whether damage was caused by the reported actions, whether health was impaired, life is at stake," said Galijatović.

The lawyer said she would submit a request to the Sarajevo Cantonal Prosecutor's Office asking for all investigative actions to be carried out.  

"We do not know what investigative actions they have ordered, but we assume it involves expert examination," said Galijatović.

The correspondence from the Federal Prosecutor's Office shows that a thorough analysis of the evidence was conducted, after which it was determined that "...certain decisive facts relevant to making a correct and lawful prosecutorial decision remained undetermined and insufficiently clarified...", part of the decision of the Federal Prosecutor's Office.

Although a lot of evidence was submitted to the Sarajevo Cantonal Prosecutor's Office, including a discharge letter and the statement of the mother Amina Smajlović, prosecutor Sanela Škaljić made the decision not to conduct an investigation. That decision was confirmed by the chief prosecutor Sabina Sarajlija, after which the family, through their lawyer Galijatović, appealed to the Federal Prosecutor's Office.