For years, the former first man of the intelligence service of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was linked to affairs, court proceedings were or are being conducted, and he ended up on the United States (U.S.) blacklist. Who is Osman MehmedagicOsmica?
Osman “Osmica” Mehmedagic, former director of the Intelligence and Security Agency (OSA) of BiH, was arrested on December 18th, as was the current president of the State Court, Ranko Debevec. The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH states that they are suspected of abuse of position.
Mehmedagic spent 8 years as the head of OSA. He was replaced in February 2023. He soon reached the U.S. “black list” for undermining democratic institutions and endangering peace and stability in the Western Balkans.
In the reasoning of the U.S. Ministry of Finance, it was also stated that Mehmedagic, as director of OSA, misused the state telecommunications company in favor of the Democratic Action Party (SDA), one of the largest political parties, and collected data on the activities of the mobile devices of BiH politicians who are not connected to it.
They claim that he used his position, threats and connections to redirect the support for a Coalition of Eight, a group of civic parties, to the SDA and that he cooperated with criminal networks to enrich himself and the party.
Mehmedagic called all the accusations untrue. Over the years, legal proceedings have been initiated against him. The greatest interest was in Mehmedagic’s formal education. In 2019, his diploma from the University of Business Studies Banja Luka from 2006, which he submitted during the competition procedure for the selection of the Agency’s director, was annulled.
Mehmedagic then submitted a diploma from the private American University in Tuzla, issued in 2013, to the Parliamentary Commission for Oversight of OSA’s work. As he had not mentioned it in his biography before, the Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation. After that, OSA declared the documentation on Mehmedagic’s school a state secret. As part of the investigation into obtaining a new diploma, Mehmedagic was arrested in July 2021, on suspicion of having committed criminal acts of abuse of position, forgery of documents and money laundering. Then Denis Prcic, the founder and director of that institution, was also arrested, suspected of illegally issuing a diploma. The procedure is ongoing.
During 2020, there was an ongoing affair related to the illegal removal of videos from the BiH post office in Sarajevo. He was, together with another OSA employee, accused of obtaining information about the sender of an anonymous report against him without authorization. In that case, where he was accused of abuse of power, Mehmedagic was legally acquitted in 2021.
The BiH Prosecutor’s Office charged him with abuse of position in the “Security Checks” affair due to the illegal appointment of members of the commission that decides on access to secret data. The Court of BiH rejected the indictment.
Mehmadagic was the bodyguard of the first president of the Presidency of the Republic of BiH (RBiH), Alija Izetbegovic. Before founding OSA in 2004, he was engaged in the Federal Intelligence Security Service, and earlier also in theInvestigation and Documentation Agency (AID), Slobodna Evropa writes.
E. Dz.
