Bosnia Court Acquits Ex-OSA Chief Osman Mehmedagic
First-instance ruling of October 20: the indictment does not specify what the former OSA director did, the court said, so the diploma question was never decided.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina delivered a first-instance acquittal on October 20 to Osman Mehmedagic, the former director general of the Intelligence and Security Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (OSA). The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina had charged him with abuse of office, alleging that he headed the agency without the higher education the law requires for that post. The verdict is not final.
What was Mehmedagic charged with?
According to the indictment, he served as director general of the OSA from November 2019 until he was dismissed on February 27, 2023, a little over three years. Prosecutors said he received salaries totaling 293,046 convertible marks (KM) over that period, and that amount was treated as damage to the Bosnian budget.
The court confirmed the indictment on January 9, 2025, almost 22 months before today’s verdict. In closing arguments, prosecutors asked for a sentence close to the legal maximum, while the defense asked for an acquittal.
Why did the court acquit him?
The verdict rests on Article 284, point a of the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because the act as described does not contain all the legal elements of a criminal offense. In its reasoning, the court said this was so “since the factual description of the indictment does not contain a concretization of the defendant’s unlawful conduct.”
The indictment boils down to a claim that Mehmedagic led the agency without the required qualifications and drew a salary. Put differently, it does not specify which duty he failed to perform, or how any benefit or damage arose. For that reason the court did not rule on whether Mehmedagic held the necessary degree. According to the reasoning, the acquittal does not mean that question was settled in his favor, only that the description of the offense in the indictment was not enough to decide on guilt.
Appeal and a separate case
The verdict can be appealed to the Appellate Division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Until that panel rules, the acquittal stands only as a first-instance decision, and the verdict is not final.
Mehmedagic is not out of the courtroom. Another case against him is under way before the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with former Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina president Ranko Debevec. The two are suspected of abusing office, illegally wiretapping judges of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and employees of the Prosecutor’s Office, forging documents and accepting rewards and other benefits. The presumption of innocence applies in that case, and the October 20 verdict does not concern it.
