Republika Srpska police vehicles Photo: N1.
Bosnia’s state court sentenced Dalibor Railic and Aleksandar Mijatovic on Monday to 29 and 34 years in prison respectively for the murder of the head of the criminal police, Radenko Basic, in the town of Prijedor. He was killed on March 21, 2022, after leaving his house to walk to work.
The state-level prosecution alleged that Railic was the mastermind, while Mijatovic committed the murder for the price of 50,000 Bosnian marks, or just over 25,000 euros.
“Dalibor Railic, with the aim of protecting the continuous and unhindered conduct of criminal activities related to the resale of narcotic drugs, incited the accused, Aleksandar Miljatovic, to commit the criminal offence of aggravated murder,” the first-instance verdict reads.
“Miljatovic did so for financial gain, by firing a single shot from a pistol at close range, with the intent to take life, into the back of Radenko Basic’s head, inflicting injuries as a result of which Basic died at the scene,” it added.
Basic spent decades working for the police in Republika Srpska, the mainly Serb entity of Bosnia.
Railic and seven others were indicted in December 2022 after the cracking of the encrypted communication apps Sky ECC and Anom, which many criminals used for secure communication. It was the first indictment in Bosnia to use such obtained information as evidence in a trial.
Railic’s sentence also includes charges for leading an organised crime group and drug trafficking, while two members of his group, Mirjana Vujovic and Zeljko Simic, were sentenced to three-and-a-half and three years in prison respectively.
The original indictment was later on separated, and three people faced separate trials in the case. The first-instance verdict may be appealed.