Prosecutor seeks custody for Kamber, lawyer claims he is in poor health due to coronavirus

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - A hearing was held today at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina's request for Asim Kamber to be taken into custody for violating restrictive measures previously imposed on him by the Court of BiH. Kamber is a federal representative of the SDA, and is under investigation on suspicion of committing the criminal offense of electoral fraud in the General Elections in 2018.

Prosecutor Ćazim Hasanspahić stated today that Kamber published an article on his blog on October 1st, which was reported by the portal inmedia.ba, owned by his son Mirza Kamber, in which the names of witnesses in this case were revealed.

The prosecutor submitted a document from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Una-Sana Canton (Sanski Most Police Station), specifically material from Kamber's blog where witnesses are mentioned, thereby influencing witnesses who also informed the Prosecutor's Office about Kamber's publications.

Asim Kamber's lawyer, Lejla Čović, objected to the Prosecutor's proposal. She emphasized that it is unacceptable that the prosecutor, in the letter submitted to the Court and the defense, cited point a (risk of flight) as a reason for custody, and today at the hearing stated that it was a typographical error, and custody is sought under point b (risk of influencing witnesses).

"I see neither in the proposal nor in the content of the blog where and how he violated the restrictive measures," Čović said.

She stated that the prosecutor did not submit any evidence that the witnesses complained or their statements. The lawyer informed the Court of BiH that Kamber had suffered a severe form of coronavirus, due to which his health is still impaired.

Kamber was detained in mid-September, along with Mirela Husić and Fazir Vukalić, on suspicion of committing electoral fraud offenses, suspected to have occurred during the General Elections in 2018.

In the case of Asim Kamber et al. (S1 3 K 036819 20 Kpp), and according to the proposal of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, the Court issued a decision imposing restrictive measures on the suspect Asim Kamber: a travel ban, pursuant to Article 126, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Procedure Code of BiH, in a manner that the suspect Asim Kamber is prohibited from traveling outside the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with the temporary confiscation of all travel documents, as well as a ban on using his identity card to cross the state border, which measures will be enforced by the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ensuring that this ban is entered into the information system of the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina; a ban on meeting with certain persons, pursuant to Article 126a, paragraph 1, point c) of the Criminal Procedure Code of BiH, in a manner that the suspect Asim Kamber is prohibited from any contact or communication with other suspects in this proceeding (Mirela Husić and Fazir Vukalić) and witnesses in this criminal case, whether by phone, through intermediaries, or directly, or via social networks, including approaching them within a distance of 100 meters.

In addition to the above, the suspect Asim Kamber is prohibited from public appearances and from disclosing facts and circumstances from the criminal proceedings in question, in a manner that the suspect Asim Kamber is prohibited from contacting all representatives of print and electronic media regarding the criminal proceedings in question.