On 5 December 2023, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina delivered and publicly announced the first instance judgment in the case of u Selmo Cikotić finding the accused Selmo Cikotić guilty because, in the manner described in the operative part of the judgment, as an official person in the bodies of the executive branch in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in his  capacity of the Defense Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, having abused his official authority and powers, he committed the continued criminal offense of Abuse of Office or Official Authority under Article 220(3) of the Criminal Code of BiH (CC BiH) in connection with Paragraph 1 of the same Article, all as read with Article 54 of the same Code.

The Court sentenced the accused to three (3) years in prison.

An appeal from this judgment may be filed with the Appellate Division Panel within 15 days after the receipt of a written judgment.