Bosnian Terrorism Suspect ‘Lived in Germany Before Going to Syria’

Court of BiH. Foto: BIRN BiH

Prosecutor Cazim Hasanspahic also stressed that Vukovic had been involved with militant groups for a long period.

“He was on a foreign battlefront for a full six years, and spent some time with the al-Nusra Front group. He was detained at Sarajevo Airport after more than six years. The duration of his stay and his involvement that included training in handling weapons, artillery included, justify the reasons for a custody extension,” Hasanspahic said.

Belma Balijagic-Dzuho, who stood in for Vukovic’s defence lawyer at the hearing, argued that the prosecution had not offered sufficient evidence for a custody extension, and proposed that the court impose other restrictions on his movement instead.

Balijagic-Dzuho said insufficient evidence was offered that the suspect might interfere with witnesses if he was freed. She also said he could not influence expert evaluations as these were conducted by officials.

She also argued that Vukovic did not have prior convictions.

“My client went to Syria at the age of 14 accompanied by his father and stepmother, as a child, irrespective of his own wishes. He intended to return to Bosnia and Herzegovina in February, but the prosecution did not put forward these facts,” she said.

The Posecution responded by saying that the suspect had not lived at his residential address in Bosnia and Herzegovina for more than six years, and that the defense’s proposal to restrict his movements to that address instead of extending custody were invalid.

“He did not travel to Syria from his residential address in Bosnia, but from Germany, where he lived for a long period of time,” prosecutor Hasanspahic said.

The prosecution suspects Vukovic of having travelled to Syria in 2014 and joining formations within the terrorist organisation al-Nusra Front, with which he participated, alongside other Bosnian citizens, in terrorist activities as a member of the Hattab unit.

The prosecution claimed that Vukovic remained in Syria until 2019, after which he went into hiding in Turkey, where he was located, detained and extradited to Bosnia on October 22, 2020.

Hasanspahic also told the hearing that in the upcoming period orders will be issued to conduct an expert examination of certain items, including a phone that was temporarily confiscated from the suspect and a video.

According to the prosecutor, the opening of the temporarily seized items, which suspect Vukovic is obliged to attend, was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, as most detainees in the detention facility where he is being held were in isolation.

The court will decide on the prosecution and defence proposals within the legally-approved time frame.