SARAJEVO PLANNED ABDIC'S ASSASSINATION SARAJEVO, April 26 (Hina) - The Interior Ministry of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina has amended charges against three senior Bosniak police and intelligence officials with new evidence
which charges them with having prepared the assassination of Fikret Abdic.
SARAJEVO, April 26 (Hina) - The Interior Ministry of the Federation
of Bosnia-Herzegovina has amended charges against three senior
Bosniak police and intelligence officials with new evidence which
charges them with having prepared the assassination of Fikret
Abdic. #L#
The Sarajevo dailies "Dnevni avaz" and "Slobodna Bosna" report on
Friday that the indictment against the former interior minister
Bakir Alispahic and his associates at the Agency for Investigation
and Documentation (AID), Irfan Ljevakovic and Enver Mujezinovic,
has been amended to include two more persons from Bihac - Edhem
Veladzic and Ejub Ikic.
At the time they were senior police officials in Bihac in 1995,
Veladzic and Ikic made a decision to liquidate Abdic, a political
opponent of the then authorities in Sarajevo, which were headed by
the Party of Democratic Action (SDA).
According to the findings of the Federation police, the decision
was made with the consent of Nedzad Ugljanin, at the time an
assistant AID director, who was killed under mysterious
circumstances in Sarajevo in 1997.
A new investigation into this case was opened and former AID
director Kemal Ademovic testified about it before an investigating
judge in Sarajevo on Thursday.
The operation, dubbed "Dover", was planned with Alispahic,
Mujezinovic and another police official, Borisa Delic's consent. A
total of 54,000 German marks was secured from special AID funds for
the assassins.
The assassins were thwarted in their attempt to kill Abdic by the
Croatian police, who arrested them near Rijeka on May 4, 1996. The
principal indictee was later sentenced to two years in prison while
the other three accomplices were each sentenced to a year and a half
in prison. The arrest of the four caused great concern among Bosniak
police structures.
Investigating the archives of the Bosnian Foreign Ministry, the
Federation police have discovered a letter by Alispahic to the then
political leadership, including Alija Izetbegovic, in which he
expresses fear that the arrested could reveal all they know about
the case.
"Slobodna Bosna" concludes that this document proves that the AID
leadership not only prepared but also carried out terrorist
operations.
According to previously filed charges, the "theoretical" part of
the terrorist training took place on Mt. Pogorelica in central
Bosnia under the guidance of instructors from the Iranian
intelligence service Vevak.
"Dnevni avaz" claims that Alispahic, Ljevakovic and Mujezinovic
have already been placed under house arrest due to the gravity of
the charges until the Supreme Court of the BH Federation makes a
final decision on initiating criminal proceedings.
It is expected that the trial of the three will begin before the
Supreme Court in the next couple of days.
(hina) rml