Secrets within OSA, the tragic story of expelled businessmen who are not a threat in Germany

(Patria) - For more than four years, father and son Bećir and Alban Kelmendi, who ran a successful factory Adolado in BiH, have been unable to enter BiH, nor have they been able to obtain information on the basis of which the Intelligence-Security Agency (OSA) declared them a threat to national security.

Based on these operational findings, they were issued a deportation order from BiH and a four-year ban on entering our country. The ban for Alban recently expired, but he still cannot enter BiH even though he has not been served with a new entry ban order.

- Given that it was impossible to obtain information on the current status of the person I represent, Alban recently headed for BiH. They did not allow him to enter at the border crossing, stating that there was information from security agencies on which they were acting, lawyer Izet Laličić told Patria.

This story raises the dilemma of whether the discretionary power of OSA members, which can often be based on subjective assessments of individuals, can be misused in a way that grossly violates human rights.

In this specific case, the consequences of OSA's "secret" findings are far greater than the personal tragedy of those subjected to the measure. The entire family had to leave BiH as a consequence of the state institutions' decision, and OSA's actions directly harmed BiH's economy and jeopardized the existence of 90 employees in the companies owned by the Kelmendi family in BiH.

- What hurts me the most is that I don't know what my son and I are accused of. We have never had problems with the law, we had profits of up to one million marks annually, on which we paid taxes regularly, just as we paid taxes on our employees' income. If there was something, they could have arrested me, put me on trial, I have nothing against it, but for someone to declare you a threat to national security is a broader dimension, and it hurts me terribly that they categorize me as a criminal or a terrorist without presenting any evidence, Bećir Kelmendi stated for Patria.

Our interlocutor has German citizenship. In that country, he is a respected businessman who today has extensive businesses in Croatia and Serbia. He has business contacts all over the world and is welcome everywhere, except in BiH, based on security assessments known only to those who collect them. Without the possibility for those being deported to be informed or to respond to the allegations against them, the presumption of innocence, as a fundamental human right, is seriously jeopardized.

Anything is possible in a country where the diploma of the head of OSA is a "state secret" and where the work of the Parliamentary Commission, which should exercise civilian oversight over OSA's work, is politicized to the extreme.

In the Kelmendi case, the Commission remained silent all these years, which is not the practice in every case it should consider.

Admittedly, the Commission rarely meets, as political reasons for its obstruction are always found, as is currently the case with representatives of the HDZ in BiH.

Previously, there was a problem due to the participation of Nikola Špirić in it, who is on the US blacklist due to findings of high-level corruption, and who was reappointed to oversee those who should most seriously address his work.

The Kelmendi problem is that the courts in BiH have not delved into assessing the validity of data obtained from OSA investigations, considering that there is a legal basis for the secrecy of the collected information.

The Kelmendi family has not engaged in a legal battle before the Court of Human Rights because the period of the imposed ban is expiring. As we have already written, Alban Kelmendi's ban expired in August last year, and Bećir's should expire in March this year.

The fact that Alban, despite the expiration of the ban, still cannot enter BiH based on "secret" data extinguishes his father's hope of returning to BiH, which he considers his homeland.

- Of course, I would like to return. I spent a lot of my life there, my grandchildren were born there, our property is there. I would start a business again, because I am a man with ideas. BiH is a paradise for business, there is no need to do anything illegally there; whoever is not prepared to pay 10 percent profit tax in the modern world should not be in business, Bećir Kelmendi told us.

Interestingly, the deportation orders from BiH were issued at a time when the Kelmendis were in a situation to acquire the right to permanent residence and apply for BiH citizenship, especially the son Alban, who married a Bosnian woman.

If they had obtained citizenship, there would no longer be "secrets," because by law, they would have had the opportunity to prove their innocence in court. Perhaps someone benefits from innocence being paid for.