The custody measure was moved for the suspect Nedeljko Lizdek, born in 1997 in Pale, a BiH citizen.
The deprivation of the said person’s freedom was the result of an operation carried out by the police officers of the RS Ministry of Interior in the area of East Sarajevo under the supervision of the prosecutor, as part of the investigation into the activities of Darko Elez’s organised criminal group.
The named person is, among other things, suspected of participating in illegal activities of the alienation, obtaining and driving the motor vehicle used by the perpetrators of the first degree, mafia-style murder, which was committed in the area of East Sarajevo in May 2018.
After interviewing the suspect, the prosecutor working on the case moved the custody measure for the reasons provided for in Article 132 (1), (b) and (c) of the Criminal Procedure Code of BiH, that is, because of the risk that by being at large, the suspect could obstruct the investigation, conceal evidence and influence witnesses or accomplices, as well as that he could commit a new criminal offence or finish the one he has begun.
The motion to order custody has been sent to the Court of BiH, and the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH will continue carrying out intensive investigative actions in the coming period.
Senad Kreho, the lawyer of Darko Elez, confirmed to agency Srna that his client had informed him that he had received a decision from Serbia about the revocation of his Serbian citizenship.
”I will visit him tomorrow and see what it is all about,” told Kreho yesterday.
As Kreho assessed, it was a new kind of psychological pressure on his client.
“After this decision, there will be another administrative dispute over why the Serbian citizenship is being taken away from Darko Elez, and all those who took away his citizenship, as well as all those to higher courts, will be included, in order to clarify why his citizenship is being revoked at this particular moment,” added Kreho.
Kreho noted that a new possibility is now opened for Darko Elez, which means he could be tried in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in the “Puppet” case as well, but that these things will be clearer when all dilemmas regarding citizenship are removed.
Elez is currently in custody for two months based on the decision of the Court of BiH, after his one-month custody has passed.
Darko Elez was delivered to BiH from Serbia on March 3rd.
Elez has been in extradition custody since his arrest in December in Belgrade, where he lived and worked for years after serving a nine-year prison sentence in Serbia, which he was sentenced to as the organizer of a criminal group that trafficked drugs, extorted, and committed other crimes in Serbia and BiH back in 2009.
After the arrest of Elez in Belgrade, the BiH Prosecution requested his extradition on the basis of a confirmed indictment in a case known as “Puppet”, as well as for the investigation that is being conducted together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska (RS) and partner institutions in the region.
The investigation refers to serious crimes committed in the area of East Sarajevo and BiH, including murders committed by mafia liquidation methods in 2018 and 2019, then planning and attempted murders in the area of East Sarajevo and Bijeljina, as well as extortion, intimidation, and other criminal acts to the detriment of injured persons from the area of East Sarajevo and BiH.
