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Armen Dželko. Izvor: BIRN BiH
Dzelko was found guilty of joining Islamic State and participating in terrorist activities with the aim of destabilising and forcibly removing the legitimate Syrian authorities.
He left for Syria on February 12, 2013 and was flown back to Bosnia and Herzegovina in December last year.
Presiding judge Branko Peric said the court had taken into account several facts as mitigating circumstances – that Dzelko admitted committing the crime, the fact that he has a young family, that he was wounded and disabled and that he has expressed remorse.
Peric said he hoped Dzelko had realised his mistake and that in the future he would work on bringing people together.
Prior to the delivery of the verdict, prosecutor Merisa Nurkic explained the plea bargain agreement, saying that the prosecution was aware that the crime was punishable by at least three years in prison.
She said that Dzelko was 23 when he went to Syria, had told prosecutors what had happened without delay, and had behaved in a correct manner. She also noted that his wives are still in Syria and that he is disabled.
Nurkic said that a psychiatric report determined that Dzelko regretted his actions and was aware of his mistakes. She said that during his time in Syria, he shot himself in his leg to avoid going to the battlefront.
She also said that after his release from detention, Dzelko found a job and tried to integrate himself into society.
Defense lawyer Senad Dupovac said that after he was severely wounded in 2015 Dzelko had no longer been a member of Islamic State structures and had attempted to return to his home country.
The time Dzelko spent in custody, from December 24, 2019 to May 21 this year, as well as from June 23 this year onwards, will be counted towards his sentence. His custody remand has been extended, meanwhile.
Dzelko has been exempted from paying court costs. Defence lawyer Dupovac said that Dzelko had no property or income and that he had returned from Syria barefoot.
On the basis of the plea bargain, the verdict cannot be appealed.
