Sabic Failed to Appear at the Beginning of Azra Miletic Trial
The trial of state court judge Azra Miletic, Senad Sabic and Ramo Brkic has been postponed due to Sabic’s failure to appear in court. According to the charges, Sabic and Brkic promised to give a certain amount of money to state court judge Azra Miletic.
This post is also available in: Bosnian
The prosecution alleges that Sabic and Brkic, who were facing organized crime charges, bribed Miletic in order to influence the outcome of a second instance proceeding against them.
Judge Biljana Cukovic said she would check whether Sabic had been properly informed about the hearing scheduled for today.
“If the invitation was properly delivered, the court will issue an order to apprehend him to the next hearing. If he was not informed, we shall invite him again in writing,” Cukovic said.
Sabic’s defense attorney, Husein Music, said he didn’t know why the defendant had failed to appear in court. He said he heard Sabic was absent, because he had found a job abroad.
“His wife told me the summons had arrived four days ago…I haven’t been able to contact him, as his Bosnian number is not reachable,” Music said.
After discussing the commitments of judges and attorneys in other cases, Cukovic scheduled a new hearing for December 28.
Prosecutor Dzermin Pasic said he was busy with other cases, but that should not be a reason for postponing the trial. He said replacements could be found in order to “finally start reading the indictment.”
Judge Cukovic rejected a proposal by Azra Miletic’s defense to hold a pretrial status conference on the grounds that the case was not that complex.
Commenting on the allegations, Brkic’s defense attorney, Asim Crnalic, said when the Bosnian state court refused to refer the case to a lower instance court it claimed the case was complex.
