Syria Suspect Photographed in Uniform with Rifle
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Emir Ališić. Source:The State Court BiH
On the prosecution’s suggestion, three inspectors from the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) took the stand and described how they received information about Alisic leaving for Syria on two occasions.
“We were in possession of information that he had gone to Syria and returned for a brief period of time and then left again, followed by his family, wife and children from her first and second marriages,” one of the inspectors said.
The prosecution presented clips from two videos. According to the witnesses, one of them was made by Kurdistan TV in Baghouz in March 2019, depicting Kurdish forces inspecting captured Islamic State fighters.
The witness said that Alisic told the TV crew that he had come there to help the people, also saying that he was initially a member of Jabhat al-Nusra unit.
The second video was taken from a Federal Television show dedicated to Bosnian citizens who had gone to Syria with their families. The witness said that Alisic’s children, or actually stepchildren, could be seen in photos of Alisic depicting him in uniform with a gun.
The defence wanted to know how the witness concluded that the video depicted the surrender of Islamic State fighters to Kurdish soldiers, as well as how he knew that it was made in the Baghouz area in March 2019. Defence lawyer Bakir Hecimovic asked him who translated the Kurdish journalist’s questions to him.
The witness said he assumed what the question was on the basis of Alisic’s answer, adding that the defendant himself stated the name of the unit he had joined.
The second witness told the court how they obtained information from witnesses that Alisic had moved from Sanski Most to the Zavidovici area, where he got married, and left for Syria with his wife and children.
He said they found photographs and videos of the defendant on the internet, including a photo of him holding weapons and in uniform, standing next to other fighters.
Asked by the defence lawyer whether the photo could have been taken in the period when Alisic fought in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the witness said no.
The third witness said that he participated in an inspection of the video taken from Kurdistan TV which was published on Klix.ba website.
He said that on the basis of the text accompanying the video recording, he determined it depicted the surrender of fighters after the fall of Baghouz.
Responding to defence questions, all three witnesses said they had not personally established the authenticity of the video.
Prior to the examination of the witnesses, the court rejected a prosecution request to prohibit the publication of their names.
Alisic has been accused of joining foreign paramilitary formations. According to the charges, he left Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 2013 and joined Islamic State units in Syria.
The trial will continue on September 8 after a collective vacation by Bosnian state prosecution staff, which will be followed by trial chamber members’ collective vacation.
