Today, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) approved a plea agreement which the State Prosecutor’s Office has reached with defense of Enver Okanović and Mehmed Libić, defendants in the case of Ramo Brkić et al. Both were sentenced to probation if they do not commit new criminal offences.
Okanović was sentenced for the production and trade in narcotics. Prosecutor Oleg Čavka said that mitigating circumstances in the case of Okanović was that he had cooperated with the prosecutors and police and that he was not a drug trafficker but “a farmer who tiled land and watered plants.”
Okanović rented the hall for 2,000 KM a month. Judge Hasija Mašović decided to confiscate half of the sum because the defendant is poor. She will decide on the cost of the proceedings later on.
Libić was convicted of abuse of office and authority and sentenced to a year and half probation that will not be executed if he does not commit a new crime within three years. The judge said that this was more a warning than a punishment.
According to the indictment, a coordinator and researcher with Una Sana Canton police, Libić abused office in the capacity of a member of Independent Board deciding for Brkić’s re-election. Brkić offered him to hire his candidates in police in exchange for voting for Brkić’s re-election.
Libić pleaded guilty and reached a plea agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office. The Prosecutors took as mitigating circumstance that he had worked under the orders of his superior. Čavka said that Libić lived in an atmosphere of fear which Brkić created.
Okanović and Libić were sentenced in a separate trial. The indictment against Brkić and another 22 police officers, civil servants and other individuals was filed in the beginning of the year, while the trial started in April.
They are accused of organized crime, narcotics production and trade, abuse of office and authority, illegal interceding, official stamping of fraudulent content, corruption and counterfeiting official documents.
Published Aug. 30, 2012
