Accomplices Milenko Lakić, Saša Stjepanović, Muamer Zahitović, and Fadil Aljović were also sentenced in what Balkan Insight said has been called “the largest trial for organized crime in Bosnia in two decades.”
According to Balkan Insight, Boris Grubešić, the spokesperson for the Prosecutor, said that Turković led the “largest criminal organization in post-Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
The gang members, who were sentenced a total of 100 years in prison, were found guilty of five murders and three attempted murders, drug and weapons trafficking, and stealing about US $1.7 million from an ABS bank in Sarajevo. Lakić was also sentenced to 40 years in prison, Stjepanović to 12, Aljović, five, and Zahitović, three.
According to Balkan Insight, the victims of the murders were Midhat Mekić, his pregnant girlfriend Lucia Salas Cortes, Mario Tolić, Verner Ajdari, and Rajko Milovanović. Their deaths were compared to gangster movie-style slayings,“as some of the bodies were found walled up in a house while others were found dumped in mountains.”
The gang was also found guilty of attempted murder for firing a grenade launcher at the apartment of Anes Kurbegović. They were also convicted of trying to murder Naser Kelmendi, and his son Elvis.
Turković confessed to being paid for the three attempted murders. However, he insisted that Kelmendi, another alleged gangster, had framed him for the five actual murders. Turković said that Kelemendi had committed the five murders and paid off Oleg Cavka, the prosecutor, to go after Turković, reports Balkan Insight.
Turković’s attorney said that his client would appeal the sentence.
According to Balkan Insight, the Minister of Security for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fahrudin Radončić, “praised the verdict, saying [he] hoped that other grave cases of crime and corruption would end with similarly severe sentences.”
