The hearing on the extradition of Mirza Gačanin to Bosnia and Herzegovina was held yesterday in the court in Breda, Netherlands, and Gačanin himself presented a series of arguments for which he claims that he should not be extradited.
Among other things, he stated that he is afraid of his cousin Edin, whom he suspects is planning to kill him.
Gačanin, accused of belonging to a drug cartel and drug trafficking and money laundering, even dramatically pointed his finger under his neck yesterday, alluding that he will be murdered in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Are you afraid for your life?” the presiding judge asked him, to which Mirza Gačanin replied: “They will kill me in prison!”.
At the same time, he also told the representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office, who were present at the hearing.
Despite this, representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office said that there are formal criteria for his extradition.
They also noted that the suspicion for which Bosnia and Herzegovina is seeking extradition – arms trade – is also punishable in the Netherlands. They also stated that there is no longer the death penalty in BiH, which could possibly be an obstacle to extradition.
The Prosecutor’s Office stated that BiH is a signatory to the European Agreement on Extradition, which, in their opinion, should be a guarantee of a fair trial in BiH.
As they further note, in order for extradition to occur, there must be a well-founded suspicion of guilt formulated in terms of place and time, which is the case with Gačanin. In the end, the representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office concluded that he should be extradited, which was accompanied by the indignation of Gačanin, who had difficulty controlling his emotions at yesterday’s hearing.
As the Dutch media reports, both Mirza and Edin Gačanin arrived in the Netherlands during the war, where they first stayed in asylum centers.
Although he is only three years older, Mirza is supposedly Edin’s uncle, or rather, the brother of Edin’s father.
However, Mirza himself states that relations in the family were permanently damaged more than 20 years ago, when there was a split between them.
He states that he has not seen his cousin for more than 20 years, and that they are completely different:
“We are like fire and water,” said Mirza Gačanin.
Mirza Gačanin added that BiH is corrupt, which is why he fears for his life because, as he claims, Edin has a great influence in our country:
“Everything is for sale in Bosnia, organized crime has a great influence,” he said.
When asked by the judge why he thought Edin wanted to kill him, Mirza replied:
“He thinks I framed him as an informant for the US DEA,” Mirza said.
Representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office disputed this as a reason for rejecting BiH’s request for extradition, which dates back to May 2022. They believe that it is clear enough what Mirza Gačanin is suspected of and that it is clearly formulated in the request.
Otherwise, the final decision on Gačanin’s extradition is made by the relevant minister. At the end of the hearing, Mirza Gačanin made another dramatic speech:
“If you extradite me to Bosnia and Herzegovina, I will be dead before I see a judge,” he said, Klix.ba writes.
E.Dz.
