Custody Extension Proposed for Returnees from Syria Labidi and Berbic

Prosecutor Biljana Golijanin said the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina had a chance to inspect the evidence, including statements by examined witnesses and documentation by the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), relative to Labidi’s stay in Syria and membership in parapolice formations which the UN declared terrorist ones.

Golijanin said the Prosecution would continue to collect evidence, adding that Labidi would be examined in order to determine his mental condition and radicalization level.

According to her, Labidi did not return to Bosnia and Herzegovina on his own initiative and he was now aware of the gravity and seriousness of the crimes charged upon him, adding he had been unavailable to Bosnia and Herzegovina for around six years.

“Labidi went to Syria with his step father Emir Alisic. They can jointly influence witnesses. There is a risk of repetition of the criminal offence. His perseverance in staying in Syria should be taken seriously,” Golijanin said, requesting a two-month extension of custody.

Defense attorney Senad Bilic said that all pieces of evidence available to him indicated that Labidi went to Istanbul in 2014, adding that everything else was a subject of speculation. According to him, there are stories, but no concrete evidence, saying that he went to Syria and joined paramilitary formations.

“He was less than 16 years old when he went there with his mother. When you conduct an expert examination, you should also examine his ability to make decisions. You have a statement by his step brother who said he was in Syria, but he did not fight. (…) He went to Syria, right, but only to join his mother,” attorney Bilic said.

As he said, Labidi does not have a dual citizenship and no way to leave Bosnia. According to Bilic, he has been available to Bosnia and Herzegovina since February 2019 when Kurdish forces arrested him.

“I propose all measures of prohibition recognized by the law – home detention, a ban on meeting witnesses and suspects,” Bilic proposed.

As announced earlier, the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is conducting an investigation against Labidi, charging him with having been a member of units within the ISIL terrorist organization from 2014 until the collapse of so-called Islamic State. The fall of ISIL was declared in March 2019.

At a separate hearing prosecutor Elvira Stanojlovic said that the Prosecution continued the investigation by examining the women who were deported from Syria on December 19 last year. As she said, they confirmed that suspect Milarem Berbic committed the crime charged upon him and was in Raqqa in 2014.

“The Prosecution is convinced that the Court will form an accurate picture of Syria and the level of radicalization according to which it is completely normal to take your family away from a peaceful environment,” she said, adding that “the conditions were such that it was normal to have a suicide belt”.

Stanojlovic said that, should Berbic be released to liberty, he could easily approach the witnesses and influence them.

“If released to liberty, he may get in touch with an extensive group of contacts and with their help leave, if not to Syria, then to some other area where ISIL is active,” the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Kenan Ademovic said it was not disputed that his client was in Syria, but he was not militarily engaged, adding that the witness who claimed to have seen him “was 300 km away from Berbic”.

“He went after his daughter, who had gone there with her husband. Her husband got killed a year and a half later. They tried to cross the border, but it was impossible. So, they told her to marry a Syrian man. She did that, got pregnant and they stayed in Syria. Berbic surrendered, he was not captured,” Ademovic said, adding “he was a housekeeper and was in the village. In order to become a member of the organization, one had to sign a contract before the Caliph.”

Milarem Berbic addressed the Court, saying he was not trained in military organization, adding there was not a single piece of evidence that he was.

“I was a housekeeper, supply officer, in the village. I assisted families of killed soldiers and received wage from the unit as if I was employed,” Berbic said, adding: “I did not swear an oath to the Islamic State.”

In December 2019 Labidi and Berbic were flown back to Bosnia and Herzegovina together with Muharem Dunic, Senad Kasupovic, Jasmin Keserovic, Armen Dzelko and Emir Alisic, who too are suspected of participation on foreign battlefronts.