The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina rejected Fadil Novalić’s appeal, and the former Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina will have to serve his prison sentence in Vojkovići near Sarajevo.
“We received a decision that the appeal is rejected. We, as his lawyers, received a decision, and when he receives it, the deadline of three days to report for the execution of the sentence begins. It could be on Monday or Tuesday,” Novalic’s lawyer, Senad Pećanin, told N1.
Novalić was legally sentenced to four years in prison in the “Respiratori” affair.
The other person convicted in this case, Fikret Hodžić, is already in prison in Vojkovići. Hodžić was sentenced to five years in prison.
The Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina received a request to pardon the former FBiH Prime Minister Fadil Novalić, who was sentenced to four years in prison at the beginning of the year for abuse of position when procuring ventilators during the pandemic, writes CIN. The request will be considered by the Pardon Commission, and then the report will be sent to the BiH Presidency for decision.
“According to the Law, by pardoning the conviction can be erased, and the sentence reduced or changed to a suspended sentence. Our earlier research shows that from 2006 to 2020, 335 convicts were pardoned in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most of the decisions were signed by the former federal president Živko Budimir”, according to CIN.
According to the data published in the official newspapers of BiH, FBiH and RS, from 2011 to the end of 2020, pardons were granted to convicts for: murder, domestic violence, drug trafficking, robbery, organizing kidnapping, inducing prostitution, abuse of position , violent behavior, causing bodily harm, assault on officials, endangering traffic and forest theft.
Decisions on pardons, according to state and entity regulations, can be made by members of the Presidency and entity presidents. In the last ten years, the largest number of decisions on pardons was made by former FBiH President Živko Budimir. He pardoned 247 convicts from mid-2011 to November 2014. Among them are seven convicts whose convictions were expunged. Željko Komšić and Nebojša Radmanović, as members of the BiH Presidency, made the fewest decisions on pardoning – one each.
“The commission will consider the sent application and documentation, and in accordance with the BiH pardon law, it will send its report to the Presidency of BiH for decision,” the Ministry of Justice of BiH told RSE.
Let us remind you that the defenses of Fikret Hodžić, Fadil Novalić and Fahrudin Solak requested postponements on serving their sentences in prison.
“Convicted Fikret Hodžić filed an appeal against the decision on the rejection of the application for postponement of the execution of the prison sentence, while the convicted Fahrudin Solak and Fadil Novalić have not yet filed appeals against the decision on the rejection of the application for the postponement of the execution of the prison sentence. The convicted person has the right to appeal within three days from the day of receipt of the decision deciding on the application for postponement of the execution of the prison sentence. The appeal postpones the execution of the sentence”, the statement of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina states.
