Bosnia Court Acquits Mevlid Jasarevic Before Prison Release
Bosnia's state court acquitted Jasarevic of threatening prison staff, and his 15-year sentence for the attack on the US embassy in Sarajevo ends tomorrow.
Mevlid Jasarevic, sentenced to 15 years in prison for the attack on the United States embassy in Sarajevo, walks out of the state prison in Vojkovici tomorrow, October 27. Today the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina acquitted him in a first-instance ruling in a new case. For Serbia and the region this is more than a court story from next door: a man who, according to one security expert, Washington still regards as a threat is going free, and on the same day the court decided not to add a single day to his sentence. The verdict is not final.
What did the indictment charge him with?
Jasarevic was charged with obstructing an official in the performance of official duties. According to the indictment, on two occasions at the Institution for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions, Detention and Other Measures he used force, threats of force and an attempted physical assault to keep the prison’s professional staff from doing their jobs. The sources disagree on when the first incident took place: RTRS and Klix say November and December 2024, while N1 places the first incident in October.
According to the account N1 relays, at a meeting with the head of treatment, an educator and the prison warden, Jasarevic allegedly threatened to take a knife from the kitchen. In December, the indictment says, he entered a room where the head of treatment was talking to another inmate, told her she would “regret it” if his demands were not met, and spat. Radio Free Europe reported earlier that the clash came after he was denied written and telephone contact with his family and others, while he claimed he had been prevented from reporting corruption and improper conduct by prison officials. At a hearing in July he said he never intended to physically attack anyone and that he reacted in the heat of the moment.
Why did the court acquit him?
After half a year of trial, Judge Djozo explained that the court bases its decision solely on the evidence presented in this proceeding, and that it was not proven that Jasarevic intended to prevent the officials from doing their work. The October meeting, the judge stressed, was held at Jasarevic’s own request, so uttering threats alone does not prove such intent.
“It is necessary to prove that he acted precisely with the aim of preventing the said action,” Djozo said.
The judge did not dispute that the behavior was problematic, but he drew a clear line between inappropriate conduct and the criminal offense he was charged with:
“The defendant’s actions may point to inappropriate and aggressive behavior, but it cannot be concluded that he intended to interrupt an official action,” Judge Djozo said.
Djozo added that it had to be proven that his behavior was meant to make the female staff members abandon their duties. Because of the way the indictment was drawn up, the court could not classify the acts as another criminal offense, for example an assault on an official. Had Jasarevic been convicted, according to Radio Free Europe, he could have stayed in prison for at least three months and at most three years.
Neither Jasarevic nor his defense attorney, Alma Tabakovic, attended the verdict. The judge recalled that the defendant had announced at the previous hearing that he would not come. According to N1, the prison employees were referred to civil proceedings for any claims for damages.
What happens after he leaves prison?
An appeal against the verdict is allowed and goes to the Appeals Panel of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the obligation to report regularly to the authorities, N1 says the court lifted it with the acquittal, while RTRS, citing Klix, notes that it had been imposed by an earlier decision and could have stayed in force until the end of the proceedings or until the court decided otherwise.
Jasarevic is serving his sentence in Vojkovici for the attack of October 28, 2011, when, as Radio Free Europe reported earlier, he fired more than a hundred bullets at the embassy building and seriously wounded police officer Mirsad Velic, who was guarding the compound. His attorney, Alma Tabakovic, confirmed his release date to N1 in September.
Security expert Dzevad Galijasevic told the Srna news agency that, from the point of view of the United States, Jasarevic remains a security threat, because American authorities regard the attack on the embassy in Sarajevo as a hostile act and a message he sent with it.
