Top Bosnian official arrested for interference in drug trial

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - A senior Bosnian government official and his wife were arrested on Monday on suspicion of trying to influence a witness in a high-profile court case against an accused Balkan drug boss. Prosecutors said Bakir Dautbasic was suspected of interference in the trial of Naser Kelmendi, a Kosovo-born ethnic Albanian who holds Bosnian citizenship and is on a U.S. blacklist of alleged drug kingpins. Kelmendi was arrested in Kosovo in 2013 on a Bosnian warrant over his alleged involvement in organised crime and the 2007 killing of former Bosnian warlord Ramiz Delalic. Dautbasic, state secretary at the Bosnian security ministry and a candidate to become transport and communications minister, and his wife Bilsena Sahman were under arrest and raids were being conducted in the capital Sarajevo to collect evidence, the Sarajevo prosecutors' office said in a statement. "During the operation, evidence has been collected that the suspects carried out illegal activities in order to force false testimony from a witness in the case against Kelmendi before the Bosnian state court and Kosovo judicial institutions," it said. Dautbasic is a member of the Union for Better Future (SBB) political party, headed by media tycoon-turned-politician Fahrudin Radoncic and part of the governing coalition. Radoncic said he was convinced that Dautbasic was "absolutely innocent" and that he would remain his party's only candidate for the job of transport minister. Bosnian authorities have sought Kelmendi's handover in vain because of the lack of an extradition accord between the two countries. He is on trial in Kosovo on charges of trafficking drugs, organised crime and the murder of Delalic. Several high-ranking Bosnian government officials have been tried for organised crime and corruption but there have been no convictions so far. (Reporting by Maja Zuvela; Editing by Matt Robinson/Mark Heinrich)