Custody Extension Urged for Bosnian ‘Islamic State Instructor’

The state prosecution on March 17 asked for Armen Dzelko’s custody remand to be extended, arguing that there was still a danger that he might flee, influence witnesses or repeat the offence.

Prosecutor Dubravko Campara pointed out that Dzelko spent nearly six years on the front lines in Syria and Iraq and took part in combat as a fighter and as an ISIL instructor.

Campara said that during that time, Dzelko made personal cnonections that he could to leave Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly with the state’s focus now on the coronavirus pandemic and the migrant crisis.

An additional reason why Dzelko could flee is that his two wives and two children are still in Syria, the prosecutor added.

“There is a danger that the defendant will repeat the crime if at liberty, especially in the chaos caused by the coronavirus and the migrant crisis… when we lack border policemen,” Campara said.

The prosecutor said that several witnesses in the case have recognised Dzelko from Syria and that there was a concern that he might influence them.

“This man was captured in Baghouz in February 2019. That was ISIL’s last stand in the world,” Campara said.

He also said that crimes committed by ISIL were the most vicious seen since the Bosnian war, adding that the release of its former members would threaten public order and peace.

But the defence argued that restrictions on Dzelko’s movement should be imposed instead of custody, defense proposed that prohibitive measures be imposed instead, arguing there was no danger that he would flee or repeat the offence.

The defence claimed that Dzelko left for Syria in February 2013, when ISIL was not a terrorist organisation, during the ‘Arab spring’, when its members were fighters for freedom and democracy.

According to defense lawyer Senad Dupovac, nearly 50 people who have returned from Syria to Bosnia and Herzegovina have not been prosecuted and none of them has committed a crime.

He said that, unlike those who were in the Middle East alone, Dzelko could not return because he had two wives and two children.

The defence lawyer pointed out that Dzelko was severely wounded in 2015, so he could not fight even if he wanted to, adding that he spent almost the whole of 2019 in a detention camp.

Addressing the claim that Dzelko could influence witnesses if allowed out of custody, Dupovac said the witnesses in the case have already given statements which could be used if they change their stories in court.

Dupovac also that Bosnia’s borders are closed so Dzelko could not return to Syria anyway. He added that the defendant’s family is currently in a camp.

Dzelko was flown back to Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 2019 together with six other men suspected of fighting abroad. Indictments have been filed against Dzelko and two of the others, while the remaining men are still under investigation.