Today, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) handed down the first instance verdict finding Milorad Vladić and Petar Bogdanović guilty of Organising a group or association for smuggling or distribution of goods on which duties were not paid. Milorad Vladić was sentenced to four years imprisonment, while Petar Bogdanović received one year suspended imprisonment sentence.

The first instance verdict contains, inter alia, following:

Milorad Vladić organised a group of individuals for the purpose of smuggling and distributing goods for which custom duties were not paid.  Petar Bogdanović was a member of this group.  In the period between 10 March and 17 November 2006, the Accused, together with three other individuals, smuggled cigarettes from Serbia into BiH.

On 10 March 2006, following an agreement with Petar Bogdanović, Milorad Vladić took over total of 1,400 boxes of cigarettes on Drina river, which he stored in his house.  Members of State Border Police uncovered Milorad Vladić and Petar Bogdanović while they were taking the cigarettes in order to forward them to individuals known to them in Bijeljina, Brčko, and Doboj.  

The time Milorad Vladić spent in custody from 21 November 2006 will count towards his sentence.