The former minister was sentenced to three years in prison

DK/STA

31. 10. 2024, 18.49

Updated: 31/10/2024, 18:58

The BiH Prosecutor’s Office announced today that the court rejected their appeal regarding the amount of the sentence. At the same time, they emphasized the importance of a final conviction in a case of high corruption, in which the former Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina was sentenced to prison for the criminal act of abuse of position or authority.
The indictment against the former minister was filed in 2021 due to the controversial change of agreements between the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croatian company Scout on the sale of weapons and ammunition.

According to the prosecutor’s office, Cikotić, as defense minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, illegally changed previously concluded contracts on the sale of old weapons and ammunition between 2009 and 2011.

Instead of obsolete weapons and ammunition, which were scheduled for write-off and sale, Cikotić, by changing the contracts, enabled the company Scout to export higher quality weapons and ammunition, for which there was a greater demand on the market. With this, the state budget was damaged by approximately five million euros.

According to the Croatian news agency Hina, Cikotić is being tried on another indictment charging him with war crimes against Croats during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Cikotić is a member of the central Bosniak party in BiH, the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), who held the position of Defense Minister of BiH between 2007 and 2012. From 2020 to January last year, he served as the Minister of Security of BiH, where he was appointed after the formation of the new government was succeeded by the current minister Nenad Nešić.