The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced the verdict by which the employees of the Service for Foreigners in the Mostar Field Center, Boris Kordic and Josip Kvesic, were sentenced to a total of 24 years in prison for abuse of position or authority and the criminal offense of extortion.
The Court sentenced the first accused Boris Kordic to a single sentence of 14 years in prison, and the second accused Josip Kvesic to a single sentence of 10 years imprisonment.
The time they spent in detention is included in the imposed prison sentences, the Court of BiH announced.
Kordic and Kvesic were found guilty of extorting money from certain foreign nationals as officials from October 2012 to March 2014, as part of an organized crime group, using their official positions and powers, by passing illegal official acts and undertook illegal official actions, and made serious threats to some of them to prevent them from obtaining and extending their residence permits and to issue decisions on expulsion from BiH against them.
They threatened to use their powers, influence and acquaintances with other influential officials in state, federal and cantonal institutions to initiate criminal and misdemeanor offenses against foreign nationals.
The members of the group undertook those actions in accordance with the mutual agreement and in accordance with the instructions and orders of Boris Kordic, in order to force foreign citizens residing in BiH to take actions to the detriment of their own and other people’s property, the Court of BiH announced.
Kvesic was acquitted of the charge of committing the criminal offense of forging a document because the offense has not been proven.
The defendants were deprived of the proceeds of crime in the amount of 60,000 BAM, which they are obliged to pay to the budget of BiH within 60 days from the day the verdict becomes final.
After the verdict was pronounced, the court issued a decision imposing a travel ban on Kordic and Kvesic, which will last as long as there is a need for it, ie at the latest until he is sent to serve a prison sentence.
The accused are banned from traveling outside BiH, and their travel documents have been confiscated.
