Trebinje Police fights corruption in its own ranks

Prozor-Rama Mayor donates computers to police

Murder in Banja Luka

Murder in Gornji Vakuf

Double suicide in Prijedor

SIPA arrests three for weapons smuggling

Drug dealers arrested in Mostar

BiH Chief Prosecutor’s apartment broken into

BiH HoP requests OHR to review its decisions on BiH officials’ removal from office

Rizvo: Visa abolition possible on 1 July

Inzko, Dodik at public tribune ‘Open dialogue for open society’

Imamovic: Audio recording mentions Lagumdzija as the Boss who will take over the money!

 

 

Nezavisne Novine, pg 11 – The Trebinje PSC understands the fight against corruption as the fight in its own ranks, which is why eight PSC officers have been charged with abuse of office or taking bribes over the past two years.

This was said yesterday at a roundtable hosted by the Trebinje PSC as part of the ‘Corruption takes everything from you’ campaign. Besides the police, representatives of the County Prosecutor’s Office, educational and health institutions, and the local community participated in the discussion as well.

Nezavisne Novine, pg 12 – Prozor-Rama Mayor Jozo Ivancevic donated three computers to the local Police Station yesterday.

PS Commander Anto Sarcevic briefed the Mayor about the security situation in the municipality and police activities aimed at preventing violation of the public law and order.

The need for a stronger support from the local community and citizens in uncovering all forms of organised crime was stressed at the meeting, which also discussed the building of a new police station expected to start this year.

Nezavisne Novine, front page and pgs 8-9, Glas Srpske, pg 17, Press RS, pg 12, Oslobodjenje, 13, Vecernji List, front page and pg 13, Dnevni Avaz, pg 17 – Rasko Pajic (45) from Saracica, Banja Luka, was murdered on Monday night in his Peugeot 407, in front of a house in Cokorska Polja.

Pajic was killed professionally in an apparent ambush. Twelve (some media outlets say 15) bullet holes were found in his car, but it is assumed that more shots were fired. However, not single shell casing was found at the crime scene.

An Audi B4, which was reported stolen to the Banja Luka PSC in mid-February, was found burnt in Brankovac, several kilometres away from the crime scene.

Pajic had a criminal record and was known to judicial bodies in the RS, FBiH, and Serbia. He was a member of an organised criminal group led by drug dealer Ognjen Sekularac (29) from Belgrade and was arrested in Serbia in December 2008, along with Sekularac and three other men. 

 

Oslobodjenje, pg 12, Glas Srpske, pg 16, Dnevni Avaz, pg 17 – Sinisa Lovric (45) from Novi Travnik was murdered in Bistricka Rijeka, Gornji Vakuf/Uskoplje municipality, Central Bosnia Canton MoI said yesterday. Unofficially, Lovric was shot in the head. The investigation is underway.

 

Nezavisne Novine, front page and pgs 16-17, Glas Srpske, pg 16, Oslobodjenje, pg 12, Dnevni List, front page and pg 20, Dnevni Avaz, front page and pg 16 – Dragana Gajic (16) from Prijedor and her boyfriend Stojan Miletic (19) from Kljuc blew themselves up yesterday afternoon at a parking in Urije settlement in Prijedor. The girl was found lying on the ground without the upper part of her body, while the dead boy was holding another unexploded hand grenade in his hand

Unofficially, Miletic left a farewell letter, blaming the girl’s father for “not allowing them to be together”.  

The investigation continues.

 

Oslobodjenje, pg 12, Nezavisne Novine, pg 5, Dnevni List, pg 21, Dnevni Avaz, pg 8 – SIPA officers conducted an operation in Sarajevo, Kladanj, and Zvornik yesterday, arresting Ramo Alic (55), Bekto Kahrimanovic (61), and Jusuf Hajrovic (45) on suspicion of weapons smuggling.  

SIPA said 16 pistols, two hunting rifles, a machinegun, hand grenades, and a considerable number of bullets were seized, as well as a number of items believed to be acquired through criminal activities.

 

Dnevni Avaz, pg 17 – Selim Berisa (21) and Sinan Suni (19) from Mostar, as well as Luan Redzepi (20) from Kosovo were arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking. Suni was arrested in Karasebas settlement while he was selling drugs; four packs of heroin and two mobile phones were found on him.

During a search of Berisa’s house, the police seized a laptop, an amount of money obtained through drug dealing, and a number of mobile phones.

Around 10 grams of heroin were found in Redepi’s possession.

 

Oslobodjenje, front page and pgs 6-7, Nezavisne Novine, front page and pg 3, Press RS, front page, Glas Srpske, pg 6, Dnevni List, front page and pg 7, Vecernji List, front page and pg 2, Dnevni Avaz, front page and pg 3 – During the night between Monday and Tuesday, unidentified persons broke into the apartment used by BiH Chief Prosecutor Milorad Barasin in Sarajevo’s settlement Kosevsko Brdo, stealing a laptop and a number of Barasin’s personal items. During the break-in, Barasin was in the Hague, attending a conference on the ICTY.

“I think the burglary represents a kind of pressure somebody wants to put on me,” he said. Asked whether it was possible that certain important documents had been stolen from his apartment, Barasin said briefly that “everything is possible”.

The investigation was conducted by officers of Canton Sarajevo MoI, Federation Police Administration, and SIPA. Canton Sarajevo Deputy Chief Prosecutor and a prosecutor of the BiH Prosecution were on the spot as well.

“BiH Prosecutor’s Office condemns this criminal act. We expect the police to carry out an effective investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice,” Spokesperson for the BiH Prosecution Boris Grubesic said, adding that it is currently unknown if this incident can be connected with the pervious threats against the Chief Prosecutor.

 

                                                                                                                                                                    > Political/other news

Oslobodjenje, pg 9, Nezavisne Novine, pg 2, Vecernji List, pg 4, Glas Srpske, pg 4 – BiH Parliament’s House of Peoples supported yesterday a Conclusion adopted by the Parliament’s Joint Commission on Human Rights, requesting the Parliamentary Assembly to launch an initiative with the OHR for reviewing all decisions that the high representatives have taken to remove from office BiH officials, or that the High Representative authorises the BiH Ombudsman’s Office or some other institution to do that.

By using the Bonn powers, the high representatives in BiH have removed from office 177 BiH officials, of whom 66 have so far been rehabilitated.

 

Dnevni Avaz, pg 12 – BiH must appoint Director and Deputy Directors of the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies in BiH before the European Commission finalises its report on BiH concerning the visa liberalisation regime, which is expected in mid-April.

“That is the last condition from Brussels that we haven’t fulfilled,” Head of the BiH Negotiating Team for the Visa Liberalisation Samir Rizvo tells Avaz.

He explains that after this has been done, BiH will be obliged to continuously implement the laws it has adopted to get the visa-free regime, i.e. harmonisation of the entities’ laws with the BiH Criminal Code, implementation of the law on the forming of the Anticorruption Agency etc.

“We will have to work on that and respect the given deadlines in order to prove that those legal solutions do not exist only on paper,” said Rizvo.

Dnevni Avaz, front page and pg 2, Oslobodjenje, pg 8, Glas Srpske, front page and pg 3, Nezavisne Novine, front page and pgs 2-3 – High Representative in BiH Valentin Inzko and RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik participated in yesterday’s public debate organised by the Centre for Dialogue Culture in Sarajevo, and moderated by the Centre Director, Sanja Vlaisavljevic.

Asked how they saw BiH after the next four years, Dodik said he saw it without Inzko, while Inzko said he saw it without Dodik.

Inzko wondered whether “this is the same Dodik whom I met in 1996 and who impressed me with his vision, energy, and courage, and who used to say that even the IEBLs will cease to exist some day.”

“I am certainly not that Dodik. Now I am older and much social work, experience and disappointment is behind me. I could also never think that Inzko will become the High Representative who will cause me so many problems. But that’s life,” said Dodik.

“I am not a war leader nor have I ever supported it. And I was the first of the Serb politicians who came to Sarajevo without any police escort. Today I came here under the highest police protection that I’ve ever had since I started coming here,” said Dodik.

He said “BiH is not disputable, but we will not allow denial of the RS either”.

“The media in the Federation are the greatest destabilising factor in BiH, and especially certain TV shows. The greatest insult I’ve received from FBiH was when the FTV aired a video footage comparing me to Hitler,” said Dodik, adding that another problem for him was the impossibility to find an adequate interlocutor in FBiH.

“I’ve tried to discuss things both with Silajdzic and Tihic, and when Zlatko Lagumdzija interferes with his cynicism, then you have absolutely no possibility to move on,” he said.

Highlighted “Media, and not judges, judge here” - Asked whether he would appear before the BiH Court if put on trial for criminal activities connected with the construction of the RS Government building, Dodik said he would not, “because there’s no crime in that”. Speaking of his own statement that he will not be tried by Muslim judges, he said “the media, and not the judges, judge here”.

“Bosniak people are good people. I have friends among them whom I have helped and who have helped me, and that’s not disputable. However, there’s a political concept about the BiH Court because that court has been installed to conduct political retaliation against political leaders,” said Dodik. 

Highlighted “About Islamic Community and Reis Ceric” - Speaking of his comparison between Sarajevo and Teheran, Dodik highlighted “a strong political role of the Islamic Community in BiH and Reis Mustafa Ceric”.

“Frequent interference into the political life, fierce political assessments on what BiH should be, such as “Whoever dislikes Bosnia can feel free to leave”, reminds me of what could be defined by a political term “the political Islam”, and the centre of that policy is the city I mentioned,” said Dodik, adding that the Serbian Orthodox Church has no influence on the political life in the RS whatsoever.

Highlighted “About Markale and Biljana Plavsic” – Speaking of the Markale massacre, Dodik said “that was clearly a tragedy”.

“I’ve never said that it didn’t happen. What I was saying is that it is not unknown that certain high-positioned people in the UNPROFOR had written a report that the mortar shell was not fired from a Serb position. I requested that a neutral international commission reviews the case again,” said Dodik.

He said he is friends with Biljana Plavsic and that it is possible that the fact that he welcomed her at the airport after she had been released from prison might have hurt the feelings of victims’ families.

“I am sorry about that, but I would do it again,” said Dodik.

 

Dnevni Avaz, pg 9 – In an interview with the daily, President of the ASA Group Management Nihad Imamovic categorically denied ‘the lies’ told by SDP President Zlatko Lagumdzija, who used the FTV’s ’60 minutes’ show to bring into question the investigation that the BiH Prosecution is currently conducting against him, SDP Vice President and Novi Grad Municipality Mayor Damir Hadzic, and owner of the ‘Butmir’ construction company Sejo Hasibovic for their attempt to extort 2,2 million KM bribe.

According to Lagumdzija, Imamovic has illegally constructed a building in Otoka and he filed the corruption report after Novi Grad Municipality had submitted a criminal report against Imamovic for the illegal construction.

“He wants to shift the entire case to politics, although it has nothing to do with politics. In my report to the Federation Police Administration, I did not mention any names, I just gave them the audio recording. The Prosecution has found out that it involves Lagumdzija, Hadzic and Hasibovic, and based on that started the investigation. I did not accuse anybody directly,” said Imamovic.

“The money was asked from me at the end of June last year, and I reported that to the FPA at the beginning of July. All that is far away from the election campaign, isn’t it? I repeat, this has nothing to do with politics or unlawful construction, which they also want to frame me with. The truth needs to be told. This is about real corruption,” stresses Imamovic.

He claims there are audio recordings that prove that Lagumdzija talked to Hasibovic.

“It is true that Lagumdzija is mentioned as the Boss who will take over the money. That’s the fact. There are experts to determine the authenticity of the audio recording. No ‘private workshop’ exists there, as Lagumdzija claims. Ten persons were present at the meeting and all of them have confirmed the authenticity of those recordings before the investigative bodies. The audio recording, which we made and gave to the Prosecutor’s Office, was backed up by other recordings taken by the FPA and BiH Intelligence and Security Agency,” says Imamovic, stressing that the ’60 minutes’ show “defends corruption, unlike some other media outlets who want to find the truth”.

 

Dnevni Avaz – Barasin: This is done to put pressure on me!

Oslobodjenje – Thieves steal Barasin’s laptop                                                             

Nezavisne Novine – Drug dealer from Serbia murdered in front of his best man’s weekend house

Press RS – Barasin’s laptop in mafia’s hands

Glas Srpske – Dodik: Dysfunctional FBiH, and not RS, is the problem,

Dnevni List – Tragedy: Boy and girl commit suicide over forbidden love

Vecernji List – BiH Chief Prosecutor’s secret documents stolen