The beginning of the trial of the former mayor of the Municipality of Ilidža, Senaid Memić, and five other employees of that municipality, who are accused of abuse of position in construction work, is scheduled for December 4.
A pre-trial hearing was held in front of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo, where the dynamics of the trial were considered, as well as the failure to submit all evidence to the defense in the proceedings against Memic, Ljiljana Eterović, expert advisor for legal affairs in the Spatial Planning Service, Adnan Ćenanović and Azra Mulaosmanović, expert associates for affairs of urban planning, and Amir Arnautović and Sanja Čizmedžić, construction inspectors.
Prosecutor Željka Radovanović Sokić said that not all the evidence was submitted to the defense because the originals were sent to the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to decide on appeals in related proceedings. She mentioned that some Defenses have inspected the file.
Memic’s defense attorney, Nermin Mulalić, said that, although his client wants the trial to be as expeditious as possible, he believes that the defense should have an overview of all the evidence before the trial begins.
“For the presentation of evidence, it would have to be a prerequisite for the defense to have all the evidence,” Mulalić said.
He stated that they do not have all the statements of the 38 Prosecution witnesses proposed. Other defenses also assessed that the right to defense would be violated if all the evidence was not delivered to them before the trial. The Prosecutor Radovanović Sokić and the Chairperson of the Council Adisa Zagiragić also agreed that all the evidence must be available to the Defense.
“Although for me it is unacceptable that those originals are circulating in the courts, and that the Prosecutor’s Office does not have a copy,” said Zahiragić.
In accordance with the availability of courtrooms, she scheduled the start of the trial for December 4, expressing the hope that by then it will be decided in the Supreme Court and the evidence returned, reports BIRN BiH – Detektor.ba.
The Prosecution has submitted a plan for the presentation of evidence, according to which the hearing of witnesses, experts and the presentation of material evidence will roughly take 30 hours.
The indictment in this case was filed in July. Memić and others were accused of having, contrary to the Regulatory Plan and regulations, allowed the investor of the residential and commercial building “Panamera” to build seven floors from 2015 to 2017, although four were originally approved.
According to the indictment, Eterović, Ćenanović and Mulaosmanović, in their capacity as officials of the Spatial Planning Service, acted on the instructions of Memic, and drew up illegal permits that he ultimately signed, while building inspectors Arnautović and Čizmedžić failed to control the construction and urban planning solutions that had to be declared null and void.
The indictment states that a similar increase in the number of floors was also with the investor “Malak Group”, who were building a hotel. The defendants were accused of having enabled the owner of the Bistro “Brajlović” restaurant on Ilidža to illegally build and use a parking space in the area of the Željeznica river directly next to the restaurant, in violation of regulations on protection against the harmful effects of water.
