It is unlikely that former Dinamo football club boss Zdravko Mamić will be extradited to Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina after the country’s prosecutors underscored on Tuesday that that would be unlawful.
A hearing was held at the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday regarding Mamić’s extradition on charges that he and several others had siphoned 200 million kuna from the football club.
The court is expected to deliver its decision in the next ten days, Mamić’s defense attorney said. Bosnian Justice Minister Josip Grubeša has the final says on Croatia’s extradition request.
Mamić fled to Bosnia and Herzegovina and is currently residing in Medjugorje. During today’s hearing, Mamić and his local defense attorney Zdravko Rajić objected to the extradition.
Prosecutor Gordana Bosiljčić had a similar stance. “The condition for Mamić to be extradited to a foreign country is that the criminal act with which he has been charged constitutes a criminal act in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is not the case with either the penal code in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina or in the Republika Srpska or Brčko District,” she underscored.
Bosiljčić said that of the 32 offenses covered by the indictment against Mamić, only seven were committed after Bosnia and Croatia signed an extradition agreement, adding that the agreement could not be applied retroactively.
Mamić’s defense attorney said the crimes he was charged with occurred before the agreement went into force.
The agreement was signed in 2012 and went into force in 2014, and the two countries interpret it differently, said Rajić.
Mamić was ordered to surrender his passport and is obliged to regularly report to local police in Čitluk until the procedure is finalized. Rajić asked the State Court to lift the measures, Hina reports.
