The Mamic brothers, who announced that they want to serve their prison sentences in Bosnia and Herzegovina, will be able to be released in that country after serving a third of their sentence, Vecernji List daily wrote on Friday.

It is evident that lawyers advised the Mamic brothers, who have dual Croatian and Bosnian citizenship, to ask to serve their sentence in Bosnia and Herzegovina because it could more favourable to them.

An important condition for the execution of a Croatian sentence in Bosnia and Herzegovina is that the verdict refers to an act punishable under the law of both countries, which can be an obstacle when it comes to economic crimes.

The Mamic brothers were convicted of abuse of office and authority, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the most severe form of the crime is punishable by three to 20 years in prison, which is harsher than being sentenced to one to 12 years in Croatia. However, Bosnia and Herzegovina must not impose a harsher sentence.

As for bribery, the description of criminal offences are similar in both countries, with the sentence in Croatia being from one to eight years in prison, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina from six months to five years.

Therefore, if the neighbouring country takes over the execution of the sentence, a court in Bosnia and Herzegovina could determine a shorter sentence in that part. In that case, no matter how shorter the sentence was, Croatia would have to respect the fact that they had served their sentence.

The third criminal offence for which Zoran Mamic was convicted was an abuse of trust in business operations, with a sentence for a more severe form ranging from one to ten years in prison.

There is no such criminal offence among economic torts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but there is “abuse of trust”, which is punishable by up to a year in prison. It is also doubtful whether Bosnia and Herzegovina could treat the criminal offences which the Mamic brothers were convicted of as acts of “a fiscal nature” because if a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not pay taxes in Croatia, and vice versa, the execution of the sentence will not be taken over. That would mean that they would avoid serving the sentence in Bosnia and Herzegovina but would have to live exclusively in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Even if their sentence in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not changed, they could benefit from parole, which is possible in Bosnia and Herzegovina just like in Croatia after half of the sentence is served, but extraordinary parole is possible in justified cases already after a third of the sentence is served, Vecernji List reported.