SARAJEVO, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has issued more than 70 rulings replacing prison sentences with fines from 2024 until mid-2025, which have collected a total of 201,000 convertible marks (KM)(about 119,580 million U.S. dollars), the court told BiH's Federal News Agency (FENA) on Thursday.
According to FENA reports, 49 of these substitution rulings were issued in 2024, with another 22 in the first half of 2025.
Analysts say that substituting prison sentences with fines simplifies procedures, relieves pressure on prisons, reduces public expenditure, and increases budget revenue.
The adjustment applies to a wide range of criminal offenses, including abuse of official position, unauthorized recording and transmission of content, smuggling, incitement to prostitution, unauthorized drug trafficking, and aiding an offender.
However, the Court of BiH specified that this substitution does not apply to grave offenses. The law strictly prohibits replacing sentences for criminal acts against the integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, terrorism, financing of terrorist activities, and other related crimes.
Decisions on replacing a prison sentence with a fine are made by the judge or panel that issued the first-instance verdict, the Court clarified. (1 KM = 0.595 U.S. dollar) ■
