Lawyer Damir Beglerovic said that at the hearing two days ago in the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo, where the proposal of the Prosecutor’s Office of Canton Sarajevo (CS) to order one-month custody of three Swedish citizens suspected of murdering Harris Osterdahl was considered, a number of procedures and laws were violated.
Beglerovic stated in an interview that he was supposed to represent Oliver Herbert-Peter, while his fellow lawyers Senad Kreho and Damir Koco were supposed to represent Abdel Majid el-Oweit and Konard Tylus.
However, by the decision of the judge Adisa Zahiragic, Kreho, and Koco were removed from the hearing, while Beglerovic remained in the courtroom, and it was decided that he would be the defender of the three Swedes.
Zahiragic previously prevented the presence of journalists at the hearing, and Beglerovic points out that no party in the proceedings requested the exclusion of the public. According to Beglerovic, the Court made the decision on its own initiative.
“The judge did not explain the decision and made a procedural decision to exclude the public. This is the first violation of the procedure. “She prevented the media and the public from seeing that she would deny the right to defense and that she would not allow lawyers Senad Kreho and Damir Koco to defend the rights of their clients,” Beglerovic stated.
He adds that the judge informed the suspects that they will not be handed the Prosecution proposal translated into Swedish, but will be translated simultaneously at the moment when the prosecutor reads it.
“At the same time, she violated the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) Criminal Procedure Law and Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The suspects were prevented from presenting their defense at today’s hearing. The judge ordered me to defend all three, even though she did not have those rights since this is about an elected lawyer and not an ex officio lawyer,” Beglerovic pointed out two days ago.
He adds that he submitted a request to remove the judge due to suspicion of impartiality.
“She personally made a decision and rejected such a request, but the president of the Cantonal Court had to decide on that,” says Beglerovic.
At the end of the interview, he adds that he announced the submission of a disciplinary report on Monday, which refers to the violation of basic human rights.
All three Swedish citizens are charged with the criminal offense of murder and attempted murder in complicity. The Prosecution did not specify who had what role in the commission of the crime.
The court will make a decision on the detention of the suspects within the legal deadline of 24 hours, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
