State Court Judge Says He Had “Full Trust” in Azra Miletic

According to the charges, co-defendants Ramo Brkic and Senad Sabic promised a certain amount of money to Miletic in order to influence the outcome of a second instance trial against them. Miletic allegedly accepted the bribe. Senad Sabic isn’t available to the authorities.

Testifying at today’s hearing at the state prosecution’s request, state court judge Milos Babic confirmed that Miletic was a reporter and then the chair of the appeals chamber at the retrial of Ramo Brkic and others, who were charged with illicit drug trafficking and the abuse of an official position.

“I think everything was done in accordance with the law. Some disagreements occurred, I can’t deny it, but they happen in every other case. We solved problems as we went along. There were no particularly big problems,” Babic said.

Babic said the role of a chamber chair during an appeals procedure was specifically defined by the law. He said the chair made decisions based on proposals given by both parties, made preparations for hearings and performed other tasks.

“Being a chamber member, I wasn’t so involved in all of that compared to the reporter and chamber chair. That’s the practice,” Babic said.

Prosecutor Dzermin Pasic presented Babic with letters sent by Miletic to both parties during preparations for the trial. Babic said he had seen one of them, but couldn’t remember the other one.

Pasic asked Babic why he said he hadn’t seen any of the letters during the investigation phase of the case. Babic said he wasn’t sure that they were shown to him on that occasion.

During Babic’s three hour examination, he was asked numerous questions on the legal actions taken in the disputed case. He was asked about the chamber’s decision not to allow the prosecution to introduce new evidence regarding drug findings, which were introduced without the examination of a court expert.

The defense teams objected several times during Babic’s examination, on the grounds that the prosecution wasn’t asking Babic about what he saw or heard but the interpretation of laws and second instance verdicts handed down by the state court.

“You’re allowing a second instance court decision to be re-examined. I have kept quiet, because I thought the prosecutor could get nothing but the truth, but as a lawyer I’m irritated. We shall come to a situation where each time the prosecution is dissatisfied with a decision, it will accuse the judge,” said Asim Crnalic, Ramo Brkic’s defense attorney.

Prosecutor Pasic said those allegations were inappropriate. He reminded the parties several times that he was examining the witness regarding the count charging judge Miletic with violation of law.

Babic said he had full trust in Azra Miletic. Responding to a question from Miletic, he confirmed she asked him to pay attention to one of the counts in the disputed case.

Babic said he was unable to respond to hypothetical questions, because the chamber he worked with had never been in a position to assess evidence, as Miletic was arrested following the presentation of closing statements on February 25, 2015.

The trial will continue on February 25.