From May 2021 to the end of 2022, 33 hearings in the case against Alija Delimustafic et al were postponed, and the total costs of the defense ex officio in that period amount to almost half a million BAM, the Sarajevo Cantonal Court told the Balkan Research Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIRN BiH).
The Court noted that the mentioned costs collectively refer to all actions undertaken in the investigation phase, the preliminary hearing phase, and the main trial phase.
They explained that the costs “cannot in any way refer only to the lawyer’s access to the court or access to the main hearing, but also to all other actions taken by the selected lawyers”, in accordance with the lawyer’s tariff.
This indictment charges the first defendant, Alija Delimustafic, with having organized a criminal group from 2009 to 2016 that, among other things, illegally registered and resold real estate – mostly of deceased persons in the Sarajevo area – obtaining a financial benefit in the amount of more than ten million BAM.
BIRN BiH previously wrote about the total costs of ex officio defense in this case, when from September 19th, 2018 to May 1st, 2021, they amounted to 472,242.68 BAM, which is almost 17,000 BAM more than in November 2020.
In addition to Delimustafic, the indictment includes Izet Musicic, Zoran Loncar, Emir Karaca, Elvira Kreho, Dzemal Karic, Lejla Ceric, Suada Hadzic, Edina Mutevelic, Murisa Makarevic, Kemo Kapur, Enver Delimustafic, Samira Skorupan, Sead Hadzic, Zaim Spahovic, Hamdija Habul, whose case was joined in May 2021, and several legal entities.
They were charged with organized crime, abuse of position, violation of the law by a judge, money laundering, document forgery, fraud, and helping the perpetrator after the crime was committed.
In this case, the indictment was filed in October 2017, but the start of the trial has already been postponed several times due to various reasons, the most common of which was the failure of the defendants’ representatives to attend the scheduled hearing.
A new hearing in this case is scheduled for January 31st, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
