House arrest requested for Debevec and Mehmedagić

(Patria) - The BiH Prosecutor's Office today requested from the BiH Court that Ranko Debevec, suspended President of the BiH Court, and Osman Mehmedagić, former Director of the Intelligence-Security Agency (OSA) of BiH, be subjected to house arrest, confiscation of travel documents, and a ban on leaving BiH.

One of the proposals is also a measure prohibiting meetings and communication with witnesses and suspects in this case, with the note that in addition to the two of them, Vasvija Vidović, Debevec's lawyer, and Milisav Pijuk, an employee of the BiH Court, are also suspects.

The BiH Court will decide on this request tomorrow, writes RSE.

Debevec and Mehmedagić's three-month detention expires this week, and there is no legal possibility for its extension. They have been in custody since December 18 last year, by order of the BiH Prosecutor's Office.

They are suspected of abusing their positions in 2020 and illegally wiretapping employees of the state court and prosecutor's office, in order to learn details of several investigations against organized crime and corruption.

At the request of the BiH Prosecutor's Office, the BiH Court extended the detention of Debevec and Mehmedagić for one month on February 16, so that the investigation could be expanded.

The prosecutor, requesting the extension of detention, stated that Debevec received a bribe from Zdravko Mamić to help him in the extradition proceedings that were then underway against Mamić in BiH. This refers to Croatia's request for Mamić's extradition, i.e., his surrender to Croatian authorities.

Mamić, who fled to BiH after being convicted in Croatia for siphoning 116 million kuna (about 17 million euros) from the football club Dinamo.