The Prosecutor’s Office in Bosnia’s Brcko District said on Thursday that it formed seven cases in which eight people are being investigated for fraud in the registration process for out-of-country voters in the past 15 days.
The local election in Bosnia is set for November 15 and the Central Election Commission has so far received numerous reports on irregularities regarding the voter registration process for nationals abroad.
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“Given the extremely large number of registered voters abroad, which in the Brcko District alone is 5,180, the intensive focus of the work of the District Prosecutor's Office in recent weeks refers to detecting and prosecuting election irregularities in this area. Criminal investigations are opened and expanded both based on reports of citizens, ie political entities, and on those from the Prosecutor's Office itself in its official capacity, on a daily basis” the Brcko Prosecutor’s Office said.
The Brcko District Basic Court has on Thursday also extended pretrial detention for Stojan Bavarcic who is suspected of abusing the personal documents of a large number of citizens by registering them for voting abroad.
Other than Bavarcic, among those being investigated are members of the Brcko District Assembly, Pejo Mendes, Radoslav Bogicevic and Nenad Kojic, who are candidates in the upcoming local election.
Other suspects of electoral fraud include Slavko Blazevic, the father of one of the deputies in the local assembly who is running for reelection, as well as Jasmin Ravkic and Mato Gluhakovic.
All suspects are in pretrial detention since the court found that they may try to obstruct criminal proceedings or influence witnesses.
