Today, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina handed down a first-instance verdict acquitting Osman Mehmedagić of charges of abuse of position or authority during the performance of his duties as Director General of the Intelligence and Security Agency of BiH (OSA BiH).
Mehmedagić was accused of abusing his official position from November 2019 to February 27, 2023, i.e. until he was dismissed from the post of director of OSA, in order to ensure that he would remain in office and maintain official and social influence.
According to the indictment, in this way he obtained material benefit in the form of a salary in the amount of 293,046.58 KM, for which amount, as stated, he damaged the budget of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was charged with the criminal offense of abuse of position or authority from Article 220, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The acquittal verdict was passed on the basis of Article 284, item a) of the Law on Criminal Procedure of BiH, because, according to the Court’s assessment, the actions described in the indictment do not contain all the legal features of the criminal offense charged against Mehmedagić.
The court found that the factual description of the indictment did not sufficiently specify the actions allegedly committed by the accused. In the indictment, as stated, it is not specified which official duty Mehmedagić failed to perform, which authority he misused or exceeded, nor in what way such action benefited, caused damage or seriously violated the rights of another person.
Since the factual description of the indictment did not specify the illegal conduct of the accused, the Court concluded that not all the legal characteristics of the criminal offense charged against him could be established based on the described actions, BHRT writes.
