Decision renderedon 4th of March by a judge of the Court of BiH, MinkaKreho, grantingthe motion of  the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH to order custody for SBB leader,FahrudinRadončić,again due to alleged violation of prohibiting measures imposed on 17th February, therefore accepts the statement of the Prosecutor’s Office that Radončić  “violated a prohibiting measure to contact media”, and that happened in the moment when he spoke to the media in front of the Court of BiH building just after leaving the custody when he spoke to numerous reporters who gathered there.

“Questionable” statement 

Judge Kreho accepted the statement of the Prosecutor’s Office that Radončić “directly violated a prohibiting measure under Article 126 A, paragraph 1 item c) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) of BiH, which, among other, referred to the ban on contacting with representatives of all printed and electronic media regarding the circumstances of the criminal proceeding”.

ANALIZA Zbog dvije rečenice - do dvije godine zatvora!?

A particularly shocking provision from the Court decision on ordering the custodial detention to Radončić again, is that “the custody may last up to two years”! And a reason for such decision was the two Radončić’c sentences he saidto media on February the 17th:

- I still haven’t read the whole text, it is not up to me to comment on the court decisions, my team of attorneys will deal with that, and I, as a politician, should focus on strengthening of the coalition, construction, employment and my job and let everyone do their jobs. 

A facsimile of Article 126 and 126A of the Criminal Procedure Code of BiH: there is no item prohibiting contacts with media

After this sentence, Radončić answered with another one to a reporter’s question if that means that the coalition is stabile:

- Well, you could see that the provocation with my arrest didn’t destabilise at all this very strong and needed Bosniak coalition, which is in the interest of the whole of BiH, not only Bosniaks – was the “questionable” Radončić’s statement.

However, what is even more important in the contest of granting the motion of the Prosecutor’s Office and what causes the greatest suspicion regarding the correctness of the Court decision to return Radončić back to the custody is a discovery explained to “Večenji List” yesterday’s edition by lawyer Dragan Barbarić, a member of his defence team.

- Ban on giving statements to media is not regulated nor prescribed by the law – said Barbarić.

Safety of citizens

Namely, by analysing Article 126.A paragraph 1. point c) CPC BiH, which the Prosecutor’s Office refers to, it could easily be seen that Radončić was returned to custody on a basis of non-existent article in the law, that is, non-existent ban on contacts with media!

Kreso: The most responsible person for the preservation of credibility of the Court of BiH

Section 4 of the CPC, as it can be seen in the enclosed facsimile, contains the prohibiting measures, and Article 126 refers to circumstances of “ban of leaving the place of residence and ban on travelling”, while the Article 126 contains “other prohibiting measures” so paragraph 1 clearly reads:

Ifindicated by circumstances of the case, the Court may impose one or more of the following prohibiting measures:

a) ban on performing certain business activities or official duties,

b) ban on visiting certain places or areas,

c) ban on meeting with certain persons,

d) order to report occasionally to a specified authority, and

e) temporary confiscation of driving licence.

So, as it is clearly visible here, none of the points of this provision contain ban on contacting with media.

It is obvious that this is just yet another shocking example that shows the absolute justification of continuous requests of the BH public, which, for, long time already, has been pointing out that for the establishment of legal safety of citizens in every country the existence of professional and independent judiciary is crucial.

The most responsible person for the preservation of credibility of the Court of BiH is the head of that highest judicial instance in the country, and in this case that is Meddžida Kreso.

Constant warnings of legal experts  

Distinguished legal experts warned also this time about the absurdity of attempts to put Radončić back behind the bars with no reasonable grounds,as same as on the  25th January after his arrest and detention, they pointed to the undeniable factthat he is a prominent  politician and a businessman who would certainlyrespond to any court or prosecutor’s office summon, as well as to the fact that Radončić is a man who knew he would be arrested and who, if he had such an intention, could flee.

So, yesterday a distinguished lawyer, Nada Dalipagić, emphasized that the sole statement given by Radončić to media at the time he was leaving from custody was not sufficient to send him back to the custody.

 - Police authorities were visiting him all the time and he constantly was at the place the Court ordered him to be. So, he didn’t leave the place where he was obliged to be, nor he met with persons he was banned to see. I think that a statement he gave on his way out is not a sufficient reason, and the decision to return the man to custody is somewhat too strict. I also think that the statement is not of such a nature and it does not pose the drastic violation of prohibiting measures to be the reason of return to the custody – said Dalipagić.