THREE PERSONS ACCUSED OF SMUGGLING OF PERSONS CONCLUDED PLEA AGREEMENTS

Three persons accused of having committed 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 Šefik Topčagić aka „Šefko“ – born on April 1, 1975 in Mala Kladuša, residing in Velika Kladuša, BiH citizen - 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 one (1) year and six (6) 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.

2.   The Eldin Šabić aka „Edo“ – born on June 5, 1990 in Velika Kladuša where he resides, citizen of BiH and the Republic of Croatia, 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 one (1) year 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.

3.   The accused Nermin Muratović – born on November 16, 1977 in Velika Kladuša where he resides, BiH citizen - 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.

The items used or intended for use in commission of the criminal offense are forfeited from the accused persons.

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.

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 agreement was submitted to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.