U.S. hits 3 Bosnia and Herzegovina nationals over corruption

March 16 (UPI) -- The United States on Wednesday slapped new sanctions against three Bosnia and Herzegovina nationals as it seeks to punish those it accuses of threatening the fragile stability of the Balkan nation.

The U.S. Treasury named Osman Mehmedagic, the former director general of the nation's Intelligence Security Agency, for sanctions Wednesday on accusations of misusing a state-owned telecommunications company to collect cellular activity on Bosnia and Herzegovina politicians not affiliated with his Party of Democratic Action.

The 60-year-old is also accused of instructing a government official with the Republika Srpska entity opposition party to be monitored, with U.S. officials saying there is also credible information that he has collaborated with criminal networks to enrich himself and that of his SDA political party.

Mehmedagic's actions reflect a larger pattern of behavior by SDA members "to use positions of authority for personal and party gain," Blinken said Wednesday in a statement.

Dragan Stankovic, director of Republika Srpska Administration for Geodetic and Property Affairs, was also hit with asset freezes on Wednesday.

U.S. officials said they hold the 38-year-old responsible for attempting to usurp authority over Bosnia and Herzegovina state property in the name of Republika Srpska through legislation that goes against court decisions, the country's Constitution and a state property disposal ban.

The third person blacklisted was Edin Gacanin, whom Blinken described as "one of the world's most notorious narcotics traffickers."

"In addition to narcotics trafficking efforts across multiple countries, Gacanin's cartel is involved in money laundering and is connected to the Kinahan Organized Crime Group, which was previously designated by the Treasury for its role as a significant transnational criminal organization," Blinken said.

The effort comes as the Biden administration continues to put pressure on those it says threaten the hard-won peace in the country that was devastated by war in the early 1990s, and which only ended with the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995.

Blinken has said the country faces its greatest political crisis since the war as leadership within Republika Srpska, one of two entities that with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina make up the Balkan state, pursue secessionist actions, specifically by attempting to seize assets of the state and give them to their entity government.

"Federation entity-based political parties have weaponized key justice and security sector institutions to misuse resources in support of political goals and to protect criminal organizations with whom they are associated," Blinken said.

The Untied States has repeatedly sanctioned Bosnia and Herzegovina officials, including Fadil Novalic, the prime minister of the federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in October. Weeks earlier, it hit prosecutor Diana Kajmakovic over links to narcotics trafficking.

Brian Nelson, under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the three people people targeted Wednesday are a threat to regional stability, institutional trust and democratic government.

"The United States will continue to target those who perpetuate corruption and undermine the postwar agreements and institutions established as part of the hard-won Dayton Peace Accords," he said in a statement.