The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina finds that it is in the public interest to issue an official press release concerning its case versus the accused Fadil Novalić et al. First of all, we wish to note that it is the Court’s practice to issue official statements or press releases only after the parties in the proceeding have received a relevant decision. However, in the present case, certain information has already appeared in the media, which was to be expected, since the case has been closely followed in the media and by the general public from the very beginning. Therefore, mindful of the importance of providing true information also from the aspect of transparency of Court’s operations, and thus also preserving public trust in the work of the judiciary, especially when it comes to the so-called “high corruption” cases, we hereby confirm the information that on 26 January 2024 the Appellate Division Panel sent out an Appeals Judgment in the case of Fadil Novalić et al., upholding the Trial Judgment of 5 April 2023 in its entirety.

As a reminder, the Trial Judgment of this Court had found the accused Fadil Novalić, Fahrudin Solak, Fikret Hodžić guilty, and the legal entity “F.H. Srebrena malina” d.o.o. Srebrenica responsible, that by the acts described in the operative part of the Trial Judgment they committed the criminal offense of Abuse of Office or Official Authority under Article 383(3), as read with Paragraph 1, of the CC FBiH, in conjunction with Articles 55 and 31 of the Code, and the accused  Fahrudin Solak also the criminal offense of Forging of Official Document under Article 389(2), as read with Paragraph 1, of the CC FBiH. Pursuant to the above, the Trial Court had imposed on the accused the prison sentences as follows:

• the accused Fadil Novalić, 4 years of imprisonment;
• the accused Fahrudin Solak, a compound sentence of 6 years of imprisonment;
• the accused Fikret Hodžić, 5 years of imprisonment;
• the accused legal entity “F.H. Srebrena malina”, a fine in the amount of 200,000.00 BAM.

The same Judgment acquitted the accused Fadil Novalić, Fahrudin Solak, Fikret Hodžić and the legal entity “F.H. Srebrena malina“ of the charges that by the acts described in the acquitting part of the Trial Judgment they committed the criminal offense of Associating for the Purpose of Perpetrating Criminal Offences under Article 249(1) CC BiH, in conjunction with the criminal offenses of Abuse of Office or Official Authority under Article 383(3), as read with Paragraph 1, of the CC FBiH, Accepting Reward or Other Forms of Benefit for Trading in Influence under Article 219(3), as read with Paragraph 2, of the CC BiH, Money Laundering under Article 209(3) as read with Paragraph 1, of the CC BiH, Counterfeiting or Destruction of Business or Trade Books or Documents under Article 261(2) of the CC FBiH, Forging of Official Document under Article 389(2) as read with Paragraph 1, of the CC FBiH, and Breach of the Duty to Keep Commercial and Business Records and Compile Financial Reports and their Counterfeiting or Destruction under Article 262(2) of the CC RS.

Finally, the Trial Judgment acquitted the accused Jelka Milićević of the charges that she committed the criminal offense of Lack of Due Diligence under Article 387(2), as read with Paragraph 1, CC FBiH.

No appeal lies from the Judgment of the Appellate Division Panel.