Bosnian Man Pleads Not Guilty to Fighting in Syria

“No, I am not guilty,” Labidi said when judge Biljana Cukovic asked him to enter his plea.

The prosecution accuses Labidi of leaving Bosnia and Herzegovina with his family in mid-2014 and travelling to Turkey, after which he illegally crossed the Syrian border and joined paramilitary formations which operated as part of so-called Islamic State structures.

“It was determined through the investigation that as of 2016, he was a member of several armed formations and participated in combat in the towns of Raqqa and Haritan,” the prosecution said.

“After the fall and collapse of the terrorist organisation in early 2019, he was captured by Kurdish forces. At the end of that year, he was deported to Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has been held in custody since,” it added.

In December 2019, Labidi was extradited, together with Jasmin Keserovic, Armen Dzelko, Senad Kasupovic, Milarem Berbic, Emir Alisic and Muharem Dunic, on suspicion that they organised a terrorist group and unlawfully formed and joined foreign paramilitary or parapolice formations.

The prosecution has filed charges against all of them for fighting in Syria. The trials of Dzelko, Keserovic and Kasupovic have already begun.