INDICTMENT ISSUED AGAINST NEDŽAD KURTOVIĆ FOR ORGANIZED CRIME, ILLICIT TRAFFICKING IN NARCOTIC DRUGS AND GIVING GIFTS AND OTHER FORMS OF BENEFITS

Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued an Indictment against Nedžad Kurtović aka Nedži, born on 11 April 1974 in Bihać, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The accused is charged with acting, after becoming a member of an organized criminal group, in coordination and agreement with Ramo Brkić, the then Commissioner of the Una-Sana Canton Ministry of the Interior, and committing a series of criminal offenses related to the organized crime, giving gifts and other forms of benefits and illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, as well as production and sale of larger quantities of Marijuana-Skunk narcotic drugs. The Indictment alleges that the accused Kurtović, as a person who was, together with the Police Commissioner and for financial compensation, arranging undisturbed dealings and police protection to persons who were manufacturing and selling narcotic drugs in the territory of Una-Sana Canton, mediated so that one of the suspects could give BAM 15,000 to the then Commissioner Brkić for the suspension of several police officers who had found out about the committed criminal offenses while conducting investigations in a professional manner, whereupon Commissioner Brkić suspended the aforementioned police officers. The Indictment also alleges that persons involved in the manufacturing of, and illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs in the territory of Una- Sana Canton and further in the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Slovenia, were giving to the accused Kurtović and Commissioner Brkić amounts of EUR 20,000 so that they could see to it that they were not interrupted by the police in the commission of these criminal offenses. During his questioning at the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 2010, as part of the case of Ramo Brkić et al., the accused Nedžad Kurtović admitted his participation in these criminal offenses, which contributed significantly to the initiation of an investigation and filing of an Indictment in the case of Ramo Brkić et al. The accused Nedžad Kurtović is charged with the commission of the following criminal offenses: - Organized Crime, as referred to in Article 250, Paragraph 4 and Paragraph 5 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina; - Giving Gifts and Other Forms of Benefits, as referred to in Article 381, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina; - Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs, as referred to in Article 195 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina; - Unauthorized Production and Sale of Narcotic Drugs, as referred to in Article 238, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Indictment has been forwarded to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for confirmation.