Bosnian Terrorism Defendant ‘Seen in Syria with Female Slave’

Senad Kasupović. Source: The State Court

A protected state prosecution witness told the trial of Senad Kasupovic at the Bosnian state court that he used to see people from Bosnia and Herzegovina, including Kasupovic, in Syria.

The protected witness codenamed S-3 said that when he met Kasupovic, he was using the name Muatesim and he told him he was from the Krajina region of the country.

He said he found out Kasupovic’s identity when he returned to Bosnia in 2016, when investigative bodies presented him with photos in which he recognised the defendant.

Testifying in a separate room, S-3 said he used to see Kasupovic and others in the cities of Manbij and Al-Bab in Syria from 2014 to 2016. He said they were uniformed and armed and went to fight.

“They mostly went on special assignments, mostly towards the border with Iraq,” the witness said.

He said he used to meet them in the street or an internet café but added that he did not see them frequently, because they were at the battlefront.

He said Kasupovic and others from Bosnia and Herzegovina were members of a unit which was originally called Bejt Komandos and later renamed el-Aksa. He said the unit belonged to the so-called Islamic State.

He told the court that the unit was commanded by a man called Bajro Ikanovic, while Omer Sisani from Chechnya was the commander in Manbij.

S-3 said that Kasupovic had a female slave – a Kurdish woman who Islamic State captured and later sold.

“He was the only Bosnian who had paid for a person,” the witness said, confirming that he used to see the slave.

Kasupovic’s defence lawyer Husein Music said during cross-examination that the defendant “barely knows” the witness.

S-3 did not want to answer how old he was when he went to Syria or to which unit he belonged.

He said he and Kasupovic did not “fight together”, but he saw the defendant when he was wounded.

Defence lawyer Music asked why S-3 said, in one of his previous statements, that Kasupovic was married to a Syrian woman from Damascus. The witness said those were not his words. The defence lawyer agreed that the witness’ signature was not on that statement.

Kasupovic has been accused of leaving Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2013 and going to Syria, where he fought for so-called Islamic State, which has been declared a terrorist organisation by the UN.

It is alleged that under the name of Muatesim, he participated in terrorist activities, fighting for Bejt Komandos unit, which was later renamed el-Aksa.

Neuropsychiatrist Omer Cemalovic also gave evidence at the hearing. He performed an expert examination of the defendant’s mental state and ability to follow the proceedings.

Cemalovic determined that the defendant was fully capable of participating in the trial and that he had no mental disorders.

He said the defendant recounted his life to him, adding that he concluded that Kasupovic felt that he had been deceived and used, as well as disappointed with the circumstances in which he found himself in Syria.

Kasupovic asked Cemalovic on what basis the neuropsychiatrist had determined that he had a high level of radicalisation. Cemalovic said he did not say that.

The trial is due to continue on October 7.