Terror Trial Witness Claims Arabic TV Showed Bosnian Suspect

As per an order of the Court, the witnesses’ identity must not be published due to the nature of their job.

The first witness from the State Investigation and Protection Agency, SIPA to testify at the hearing said that Hamza Labidi “was 13 to 14 years old” when his family left for Syria.

The prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina played a video, which the witness said featured a man called Emir Alisic giving a statement to an Arabic TV station in the Bosnian language, while Hamza Labidi stood behind him.

According to the witness, trucks transporting captives -– women, children and men – could also be seen in the video.

“It can be clearly seen in the video that masked soldiers in military uniforms searched the captives,” said the witness, who like the other SIPA investigators who testified cannot be named because of the nature of his job, according to a court order.

The witness confirmed that he had signed the minutes accompanying the video and photo documentation, which as he said was taken at the moment that Hamza Labidi and Emir Alisic, who was Labidi’s stepfather, were captured.

The witness said that the video only confirmed that they were on the Syrian battlefront as Bosnian citizens, and that they were captured and deported.

He also said that Labidi’s photo had been found on Twitter.

“A photo of the defendant was found. They were sitting at a table dressed in military uniforms,” the witness said.

He added that, at the request of the prosecution, a TV report about several families who went to the Syrian battlefront had also been documented. He said that Labidi could be seen in the report, accompanied by his stepfather and brother.

“The first man from the right hand, whose eyes are covered, is the defendant with his stepfather,” the witness said.

When asked by the judge how these families lived together with soldiers, the witness said that there were more than 20 military formations in Syria, which “moved based on combat activities”, adding that an entire village could move up to 20 kilometres in just one day.

He said that Labidi was with his stepfather Alisic the whole time.

When asked by Bakir Hecimovic, Labidi’s lawyer, whether the entire report had been translated, given that it was in a foreign language, the witness said that the journalist’s questions had not been translated.

Hecimovic asked again whether Labidi confirmed in the video that he had joined a military formation and on what basis the witness claimed that the rifles in Labidi’s hands were real. The witness responded by saying that the investigators did not try to establish whether the guns were real or replicas.

According to the charges, Labidi travelled to Syria with his family in June 2014 and joined units under the umbrella of Islamic, which the United Nations has declared a terrorist organisation. Labidi was 15-and-a-half when he went.

The indictment alleges that Labidi joined his stepfather Emir Alisic, who has also been indicted. According to the charges, Labidi was a member of units commanded by men called Goran Pavlovic and Ramo Pazara, as well as a unit called the Bejt Komandos.

Labidi remained in Syria until his capture. He was extradited to Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 2019 and was ordered into custody.

The second witness said that, during SIPA’s investigation into the Alisic case, investigators found photographs of Labidi in which he could be seen in a camouflage uniform with a gun.

The third prosecution witness was examined about the terms “ketiba” and “emir”, which are mentioned in official notes made by SIPA.

According to the witness, the word “ketiba” denotes a military formation, while “emir” means a formation leader. He explained that he had learned that from previous witnesses who had been in Syria.

“Labidi and his stepfather belonged to one of the ‘ketibas’. Goran Pavlovic from Serbia is the leader of that ‘ketiba’,” the witness said.

Responding to cross-examination, the witness said they did not further check the findings they got from the witnesses concerning the meaning of the words “ketiba” and “emir”.

Judge Nenad Seleda said that at the beginning of August the Appeals Chamber set aside a custody termination decision, ordering its reconsideration.

Defendant Labidi said his father lived in Tunisia, while his mother was in Syria, adding he currently lived with his grandmother at her house. He said she supported him, just like the rest of the family. He said he had no financial problems coming to the hearing.

His lawyer said that Labidi, whose custody remand was terminated 20 days ago, has respected all the restrictive measures imposed on him, adding that “the termination of his custody has not led to public disturbance”.

The prosecution did not comment on this issue.

The next hearing is scheduled for September 30.