Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton: Delimustafić and Škrijelj could become unavailable to BH judiciary

The Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton only today (12.12.2016.) received the decision of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo rejecting the proposal of the Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton for the extension of the detention measure for suspects Alija Delimustafić, Jusuf Škrijelj, Suada Hadžić and Lejla Cerić. All information until today's decision, the Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton learned from the media, from the defense attorney and, surprisingly, from the presiding judge of the Trial Chamber who, through the media, presented the reasons for the decision, although it was not delivered to the Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton as a party in the proceedings, nor is it final, the Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton stated, Patria reports.

Since the decision of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo is unfounded and not based on law, the Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton immediately filed an appeal, which will be decided by the Supreme Court of the Federation of BiH.

The Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton expects the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo to act urgently, and not as in previous cases (e.g., the "Bosnalijek" case), and to submit the appeal to the Supreme Court of the Federation of BiH for a decision as soon as possible, because this is still a detention case. Any delay would result in suspects Alija Delimustafić and Jusuf Škrijelj becoming unavailable to the prosecuting authorities, just as suspect Lejla Fazlagić remains unavailable to the prosecuting authorities.

The Prosecutor's Office is confident that it will succeed with the arguments in the appeal, regarding the illegal conduct of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo, because it is concerning that it prejudiced the decision as if it were deciding on the guilt of the suspects.

The Cantonal Court in Sarajevo presented the reasons for lifting the detention measure in thirty lines, ten of which refer to citing legal provisions, and this is a case of organized crime in which 21 persons are suspected and about 1,000 pieces of material evidence have been submitted to the Cantonal Court so far, the Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton stated.