Court of BiH does not know how many convicts had sentence execution postponed, but everyone knows everything about the 'Respirators' case!?

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo @aminacorbozeco

The Law on Execution of Criminal Sanctions of Bosnia and Herzegovina clearly stipulates the reasons for postponing the commencement of a prison sentence, but how many such cases are there in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last five years, no one knows, because the Court of BiH does not keep such records. At least that's what they claim in their response to Patria.

"After conducting detailed checks in several court departments, we inform you that the Court does not keep records of the requested data, and therefore we are unable to provide an answer to your inquiry," stated the Court of BiH in response to Patria's query.

It sounds unbelievable that the Court of BiH does not keep such records, considering that we know that a number of convicts are at large, and that the Court of BiH, until the 'Respirators' case, was apparently not interested in acting in this segment and reporting to the public in more detail. Now the story about the 'media plan' that was conducted in the 'Respirators' case, and in which, in addition to the BiH Prosecutor's Office, the Court of BiH also apparently participated, somehow fits together.

We remind you that the Court of BiH summarily rejected the requests for postponement of the execution of criminal sanctions for Fikret Hodžić, Fahrudin Solak, and Fadil Novalić, and that the media learned about it before the lawyers and the convicts themselves. The Court of BiH informed the public about everything, but today they cannot say how many people have requested postponement of going to prison in accordance with the law, and for how many of them it has been granted, and in how many cases it has not!

Otherwise, according to the Law, a convicted person may have the execution of a prison sentence postponed if they are suffering from a serious acute illness, in case of the death of a close family member, or the illness of a close family member. Also, the sanction can be postponed if a seasonal job needs to be completed and the family cannot engage anyone else, and if the convict has entered into an important business deal and if that deal is not completed, significant material damage would be incurred.

Otherwise, Elmir Jahić, Novalić's lawyer, previously called the actions of Braco Stupar in the proceedings on Novalić Fadil's request for postponement of the execution of the sanction illegal.

"There are several reasons. First, judge Stupar Braco, during the investigation and before the indictment was filed and confirmed against Fadil Novalić and others, was once the presiding judge of the non-trial panel that decided on the appeal against the decision of the pre-trial judge, and the second time he was a member of the non-trial panel that decided on the appeal against the decision of the pre-trial judge.

Judge Braco Stupar was also a member of the first-instance panel of the Court of BiH, which issued the first-instance verdict in the case of Novalić Fadil and others," Jahić previously told NAP.

On March 2, 2024, the lawyer, in his capacity as Fadil Novalić's lawyer, filed a complaint with the Disciplinary Prosecutor's Office against judge Stupar Braco due to the existence of grounds for suspicion that in the actions described in the complaint, some of which include judge Stupar's actions in the non-trial panel during the investigation phase, elements of a disciplinary offense under Article 56, Paragraph 1 of the Law on the HJPC are met.

It is absolutely questionable whether in such a situation anyone can believe in the objective and impartial work of Stupar and whether judge Stupar will make a lawful decision?

"Of course not, and precisely for these reasons, the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of BiH provide for the mandatory recusal of the judge from proceedings when we have a situation like the one in question," Jahić emphasized.

However, judge Stupar should have requested his recusal, but he did not.

In any case, it is already clear to everyone that the judiciary is the cancer of this society, and as things stand, precisely through the 'Respirators' case, well-hidden dark secrets of the judiciary could be revealed.

Perhaps it is trivial, but we have learned that we do not know how many convicts have had their requests granted. And when something is left to an 'eyeball' assessment, it is no wonder that many often remain unavailable to the BiH judiciary.

Legal experts can speculate, and they also estimate that the Court very often rejects but also accepts.

"The Court assesses the reasons. If those reasons are justified, then it generally complies. Whether it is popular or unpopular in public should not be viewed from the perspective of popularity but of legal application," Vlado Adamović told BHT.

And whether everything was in accordance with the law in the case of the requests of the convicts in the 'Respirators' case will be revealed by the upcoming proceedings before the HJPC.