Six persons accused of committing the criminal offense of Organized Crime under Article 250 in conjunction with the criminal offense of Smuggling of Persons under Article 189 of the CC BiH concluded plea agreements.
1. The accused Azmir Karajić aka „Biba“ - born on February 6, 1981 in Velika Kladuša where he resides, citizen of BiH - entered into plea agreement with the Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption within the Prosecutor's Office of BiH. Pursuant to the agreement the prosecutor agrees that the accused be rendered an unconditional imprisonment sentence of three (3) months by the Court of BiH.
2. The accused Atif Karajić – born on January 30, 1977 in Velika Kladuša where he resides, citizen of BiH - entered into plea agreement with the Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption within the Prosecutor's Office of BiH. Pursuant to the agreement the prosecutor agrees that the accused be rendered an unconditional imprisonment sentence of three (3) months by the Court of BiH.
3. The accused Edin Pehlić aka „Pleho“ – born on November 20, 1977 in Velika Kladuša where he resides, citizen of BiH - entered into plea agreement with the Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption within the Prosecutor's Office of BiH. Pursuant to the agreement the prosecutor agrees that the accused be rendered an imprisonment sentence of eight (8) months by the Court of BiH that shall not be executed providing that the accused does not commit another criminal offense within the next four (4) years.
4. The accused Mehmed Rizvić aka „Meho“ – born on June 26, 1980 in Velika Kladuša where he resides, citizen of BiH - entered into plea agreement with the Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption within the Prosecutor's Office of BiH. Pursuant to the agreement the prosecutor agrees that the accused be rendered an imprisonment sentence of eight (8) months by the Court of BiH that shall not be executed providing that the accused does not commit another criminal offense within the next four (4) years.
5. The accused Arif Hašić – born on January 3, 1988 in Velika Kladuša where he resides, citizen of BiH - entered into plea agreement with the Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption within the Prosecutor's Office of BiH. Pursuant to the agreement the prosecutor agrees that the accused be rendered an imprisonment sentence of five (5) months by the Court of BiH that shall not be executed providing that the accused does not commit another criminal offense within the next three (3) years.
6. The accused Vesna Nezirević aka „Vesa“ - born on October 19, 1971 in Velika Kladuša where she resides, citizen of BiH - entered into plea agreement with the Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption within the Prosecutor's Office of BiH. Pursuant to the agreement the prosecutor agrees that the accused be rendered an imprisonment sentence of four (4) months by the Court of BiH that shall not be executed providing that the accused does not commit another criminal offense within the next two (2) years.
Items used or intended for use in commission of the criminal offense and proceeds of crime shall be forfeited.
By virtue of signing the agreement the accused persons fully admitted committing the criminal offense they were charged with by the indictment of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH on August 12, 2013. The proposed sentences are in line with the role of the accused persons in commission of the criminal offenses listed in the indictment as well as aggravating and mitigating circumstances.
The accused are charged to have, during the period from December 20, 2012 to April 4, 2013 in the intent to obtain financial benefits, acted jointly in a sequence of arranged and mutually agreed actions thus performing organized illegal transfer - smuggling of foreign nationals – mostly Albanians across the territory of Macedonia, Serbia, BiH, Republic of Croatia and Republic of Slovenia towards Western Europe
With these agreements the accused persons confirm that they are aware of the content of the Plea Agreements. They also confirm that the plea statements were given voluntarily, knowingly and with full understanding of the legal consequences in accordance with Article 231 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
By virtue of signing the agreements most of the accused persons have pledged to testify before the Court of BiH when summoned as prosecution witnesses as well as to testify against other suspects in this investigation and possible indictments as well as about other investigations of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH that they have knowledge of.
These agreements were concluded within a case that involves a total of 20 accused persons.
The accused persons also pledge to compensate the damages to injured parties in case of property claims.
Pursuant to this agreement the accused persons have waived their right to a trial and their right to appeal the criminal sanction that shall be rendered to them by the Court of BiH.
The agreements were submitted to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.