Verdict for Damir Hadžić and Others for Abuse in Sarajevo Municipality Novi Grad Overturned

(Patria) - The Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina overturned the verdict of the Sarajevo Cantonal Court by which the former mayor of Sarajevo Municipality Novi Grad Damir Hadžić, as well as officials Jasmina Horo and Jusuf Čaušević, were acquitted of charges of abuse in this municipality, and ordered a new trial.

“A decision was issued by which the appeal of the cantonal prosecutor from Sarajevo was partially granted, the verdict of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo of November 9, 2021, was overturned, and a hearing in this case was scheduled before the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” was confirmed for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIRN BiH) from the Sarajevo Cantonal Court.

That the verdict in this case be overturned and a hearing scheduled before the Panel of the Supreme Court of the FBiH was requested by the Sarajevo Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in an earlier appeal, about which BIRN BiH reported, while the defense of the accused requested the rejection of the appeal as unfounded.

Hadžić, in his capacity as former mayor of the Municipality, Horo, as assistant head of the Service for Property and Legal Affairs, and Čaušević, as a professional associate in the Service for Property and Legal Affairs, were acquitted by the Cantonal Court verdict of charges that they, by abusing their official position, illegally conducted the procedure of allocating land to Esed Radeljaš, who was enabled from the budget to receive payment of more than one million marks for land that he paid 51,340 convertible marks (KM) to the Municipality in 2006.

By the same verdict, Horo was acquitted of money laundering, i.e., that she opened a bank account and deposited 25,000 euros into it, which, according to the indictment, she received from Radeljaš, and that, as proof of the origin of the money, she offered a contract for the sale of an apartment.

Proceedings against Radeljaš were previously terminated due to the death of the accused.

Hadžić and the others were also acquitted in January 2019, but the Supreme Court of the FBiH granted the Prosecutor's Office's appeal and the case was returned to the Cantonal Court for retrial, where the accused were acquitted by the verdict of November 2021.