Prison Administration Illegally Tapped Calls of Fadil Novalić with Family and Lawyers, His Rights Were Unlawfully Revoked

(Patria) - The legal team of Fadil Novalić, Elmir Jahić and Senad Pećanin, issued a press release today informing the competent state institutions, bodies and the public that the Administration of the Directorate for Enforcement of Criminal Sanctions, Detention and Other Measures of Bosnia and Herzegovina is abusing its function, grossly violating the law and infringing upon the fundamental human rights of Mr. Fadil Novalić.
 
"The competent institutions, as well as the public, are aware that through an illegal and discriminatory decision, without prior notice and informing Mr. Novalić, without a written decision, and without the possibility of appeal, the Directorate's Administration has denied Mr. Fadil Novalić the legal possibility of making phone calls with his family and lawyers.

At the request of the lawyers, the Directorate's Administration provided a response on January 17, 2025, under number 06-15-1-160-1/25, which confirms that Mr. Novalić's legal right to telephone contact with his family and lawyers was unlawfully revoked.

In the letter provided to Fadil Novalić's legal team, the Directorate's Administration admits that it made the discriminatory decision, which is a product of violating basic human rights and the fundamental rights of convicted persons, unlawfully.
 
Namely, Article 165, paragraph (2) of the Law on Enforcement of Criminal Sanctions, Detention and Other Measures of Bosnia and Herzegovina stipulates that the prison can control correspondence and telephone conversations only exceptionally, and even then with "notification of the prisoner." Through the information provided to Mr. Novalić's lawyers, the Directorate's Administration confirmed that they violated the law by tapping Mr. Novalić's telephone communication with his family and lawyers, without the prior procedure of informing him, as required by law, about the implementation of surveillance measures on his calls.

By such actions, the Directorate's Administration has denied Fadil Novalić his fundamental legal right, which has reflected upon and violated Fadil Novalić's right to prepare an application to the European Court of Human Rights. The statements of the Directorate's Administration indicate grounds for suspicion that the actions taken by the Directorate's Administration in violating Mr. Novalić's rights constitute the elements of several criminal offenses prescribed by the Criminal Code of BiH.

In addition to violating rights, the Directorate's Administration is also unlawfully taking actions against Mr. Novalić to deny, restrict, and redefine privileges guaranteed to all prisoners, which are reflected in preventing Mr. Novalić from receiving certain food items from his family, according to the prescribed procedure, which are delivered to other individuals without any restrictions. Furthermore, contrary to legal procedure, his privilege of extraordinary visits has been revoked, all after the public, and then the competent institutions, were informed about the illegal activities undertaken by the Directorate's Administration to the detriment of Fadil Novalić," the statement reads.

On January 22, 2025, the legal team also received a Decision from the Ministry of Justice of BiH, number: UP07-07-24-53/24, dated January 15, 2025, which states that "the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, nor the competent inspector, have requested the Director of the Directorate for Enforcement of Criminal Sanctions, Detention and Other Measures of Bosnia and Herzegovina to deprive the convicted Novalić Fadil of his right to use the telephone, nor to prevent him from communicating with his lawyers".

Considering the statements of the Ministry of Justice of BiH, as well as the statements of the BiH Court, which also informed the legal team that they did not request the revocation of the right to use the telephone in any way, it is unequivocally established, as also admitted by the Directorate's Administration through the aforementioned information, that the Directorate's Administration unilaterally, and for reasons known to them, took actions detrimental to Mr. Novalić Fadil, which further confirms the previously stated grounds for suspicion.

For the aforementioned reasons, we call upon the Institution of the Ombudsman/Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Independent Commission for Monitoring the Conditions of Stay in Penitentiary Institutions of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, the Ministry of Justice of BiH, and the BiH Prosecutor's Office to establish the facts about the gross violation of Mr. Fadil Novalić's human rights, and to act in accordance with their authorities.