The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina requested the maximum sentences for Hasan Dupovac and Alisa Ramić for concealing evidence in the investigation into the suffering of Dženan Memic in 2016, while the defense requested acquittal.
Appeals were submitted to the Third Instance Council of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina after Dupovac was sentenced to three years in prison for abuse of position and authority as head of the Department for Traffic Investigations in Sarajevo, and Ramić to two and a half years for giving a false statement.
The Prosecutor’s Office believes that due to the consequences of the actions of Dupovac and Ramić, which are reflected in the fact that the murder of Memic has not been solved even after eight years, the maximum penalties provided for by law should be imposed, Detektor reports.
“Alisa Ramić contributed with her false testimony, her concealment,” said prosecutor Ćazim Hasanspahić.
He stated that Dupovac is responsible for collecting evidence without a court order and diverting the investigation. He said that due to the actions of Dupovac, two video surveillance recordings did not see the light of day.
The prosecutor said that the consequences of the actions committed by the accused are the basis for the jurisdiction of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As he said, earlier attempts to present Memic’s death as a traffic accident failed.
“Even today, the family is looking for justice,” said Hasanspahić.
By the judgment of the Appellate Council, Dupovac was found guilty of abuse of position or authority from the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Ramić was found guilty of giving a false testimony. Penalties from six months to five years are provided for both offenses.
The defense filed appeals due to violations of the criminal procedure and the law, wrongly and incompletely determined situation, as well as sanctions. They requested an acquittal, and Dupovac’s defense proposed as an alternative that the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina be declared incompetent.
Defense attorneys Nina Kisić and Ermin Gačanović said they were sticking to the written appeals, but did not want to present them orally in the courtroom.
The accused Dupovac said that none of what the prosecutor stated was true. He said that it is not true that he acted without the orders of the court and the prosecution, and that the witnesses spoke about it during the trial.
“The prosecutor knows very well that those recordings were viewed,” emphasized Dupovac.
In July of last year, the Appellate Panel of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina passed a verdict in which Dupovac and Ramić were convicted, and Zijad Mutap, Josip Barić and Muamer Ožegović were acquitted. This verdict was passed after the first-instance verdict, which acquitted all five defendants, was annulled.
Considering that in the first-instance proceedings there was an acquittal, and in the second-instance a conviction, the parties had the right to appeal to the Third-instance Council in relation to the condemning part of the verdict.
The third instance panel, presided over by Judge Darko Samardžić, will make a decision later.
