Ante Jelavić

Ante Jelavić (born 21 August 1963) is a Bosnian Croat politician and former Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Jelavić was born in 1963 in Podprolog, Vrgorac, Croatia, then Yugoslavia, and was elected to the post as a candidate of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Jelavić served as Chairman of the Presidency from 15 June 1999, to 14 February 2000. He was removed from his position on the three-member Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina by decision of the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, in March 2001. Petritsch justified his decision by observing that Jelavić had "directly violated the constitutional order of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of Bosnia and Herzegovina"; in particular he cited Jelavić's leading role in the 'Croat National Assembly' rally in Mostar of 3 March 2001, calling for a separate governing entity for Bosnian Croats.^[1]

On 22 January 2004, he was arrested in his home in Mostar, on charges of corruption. On 4 November 2005, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo found Jelavić guilty of abuse of office, embezzlement of office, and lack of commitment in office. The findings of guilt related, in part, to the use of funds from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Defence to purchase shares in banking and insurance firms Hercegovačka Banka and Herzegovina Osiguranje. Judge Malcolm Simmons presided,^[2] A sentence of ten years imprisonment was subsequently pronounced, although Jelavić was not present at the sentencing hearing and remained at large.

His attorney, Dragan Barbarić, acting in his client's absence, initiated a successful appeal against the first instance verdict on the grounds that it lacked proper factual description of the offence and as such was in violation of criminal procedural law. On 4 July 2006, with the verdict revoked, the appeal panel, presided over by Judge Nedžad Popovac, called for new proceedings in which evidence presented at the first trial will be re-presented and in which new evidence may also be presented.^[3]

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