New verdict for Fikret Hodžić tomorrow

(Patria) - The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina will deliver a second-instance verdict to Fikret Hodžić and his company Srebrena malina tomorrow at 9 AM, following the indictment by the BiH Prosecutor's Office accusing them of criminal offenses - the extended criminal offense of money laundering and abuse of office or authority.

The delivery of the verdict is scheduled after the trial in the retrial against Hodžić and his company concluded with the presentation of closing statements by the BiH Prosecutor's Office and the defense.

Prosecutor Džermin Pašić requested the Trial Panel, which, in addition to Judge Huskić, also includes judges Redžib Begić and Staniša Gluhajić, to deliver a guilty verdict against Hodžić, stating that the Prosecutor's Office has proven the allegations in the indictment in their entirety.

The retrial, before the second-instance panel, was held after the Court of BiH, following a decision by the Constitutional Court which found that Hodžić's right to a fair trial was violated, overturned the then final verdict and scheduled a new main hearing.

In previously held hearings, neither the Prosecutor's Office nor the defense of the accused had proposals for new evidence compared to those already presented in the original trial, when Hodžić was tried with former FBiH Prime Minister Fadil Novalić and former Director of the Federal Civil Protection Administration Fahrudin Solak.
In the meantime, Prosecutor Džermin Pašić, at the request of the Court, "adjusted" the indictment, and it now only includes Hodžić and his company.

Fikret Hodžić's defense attorney, Mirna Avdibegović, stated before the Court that the prosecutor, "under the guise of adjusting the indictment, completely changed the indictment," accusing Hodžić of abuse of office, as well as money laundering, for which all defendants in the previously conducted proceedings had already been acquitted.

This, as she stated, was done solely to establish the jurisdiction of the BiH Prosecutor's Office and Court, because if only abuse of office remained in the indictment, this case would have had to be assigned to a lower court for competent proceedings.

She requested the Panel to acquit Hodžić.