Bosnian Prosecution to Demand Custody for Suspected Syria Fighter

The state prosecution said on December 23 that it will file a custody order motion to the state court asking for suspect Armen Dzelko to be remanded.

The prosecution is conducting an investigation into Dzelko, accusing him of having been a member of ISIS units in the period between 2013 and the collapse of the so-called Islamic State’s rule in March 2019.

“The evidence collected suggests that suspect Dzelko was a member of ISIS until the final collapse of the terrorist organisation in Syria, when he was captured by coalition forces, and he was wounded several times in battles in Syria,” the prosecution said, adding that an intensive investigation was continuing in the case.

Last week the state court ordered custody remands for Emir Alisic, Senad Kasupovic, Miralem Berbic, Jasmin Keserovic and Hamza Labidi, who are also suspected of fighting on foreign battlefields, after they had been repatriated to Bosnia and Herzegovina and placed in the state court’s detention unit. A custody hearing was held immediately after that.

Besides the five detainees and Dzelko, another man was on the plane that arrived in Sarajevo from Syria. The prosecution’s decision on the sixth man’s case has yet to be made.

Six women and 12 children who arrived on the same flight were accommodated at a reception centre.