State Court finds Bosnia can't extradite Abdic to Croatia

Following contradictory information as to whether the BiH State Investigation and Protection Agency tried to arrest Abdic on Thursday so that he could be extradited to Croatia, the State Court issued a press release saying it decided that Abdić need not be arrested so that a decision could be made on his possible extradition because there were no legal grounds for doing so.

The crime Abdic is wanted for dates back to 2001, the Court said, adding that the 2012 BiH-Croatia agreement on the extradition on their citizens does not apply to crimes from 2001, as stated by Interpol also.

The Court said that arresting Abdic to formally decide whether he could be extradited to Croatia would constitute an unjustified waste of resources and time.

The arrest warrant for Abdic was issued after the Croatian Supreme Court in 2019 overturned a verdict according to which he was acquitted of abuse of office regarding assets of the former Agrokomerc company.

In Croatia, Abdic remains charged with illegally obtaining a house near Opatija as well as other properties worth HRK 2 million, for which he evidently will not be held to account unless Croatia refers the case to BiH.

Abdic is the head of Velika Kladusa Municipality, where he returned from Croatia after serving a 15-year sentence for war crimes.