Witnesses Identified Syria Terrorism Suspect from Photographs

Jasmin Keserović. Source: State Court

The state prosecution witness, whose name the court has ruled should not be published, said that his task was to identify the suspect with the help of three witnesses: a protected witness codenamed N-2 and two returnees from Syria.

The witness said that, after being shown a photo album containing six photographs, the witnesses confirmed that defendant Keserovic was in one of them.

“In all the three cases the identification was positive, the witnesses recognised Keserovic,” the investigator said.

Examining the witness, defence lawyer Senad Dupovac said he would question him concerning the lawfulness of these actions.

When asked whether witnesses were first asked to describe the person before a photo album containing photos similar to the description was made, the witness answered affirmatively.

“We brought a prepared photo album, which was not shown to the witness,” he said.

He said that the records documented what the witnesses knew about the suspect’s description.

The defence lawyer said that the record for a witness who was also in Syria but has since returned, did not contain a description, adding that, in the description part, she was quoted as saying “she knows him to some extent”.

“The protected witness described that he had longer hair, but out of the six photographs you presented, only one depicted a long-haired person,” Dupovac said.

The witness explained that these were the photos they had at their disposal at the time.

The defence lawyer noted that another witness who was in Syria said that Keserovic had a weak physical build and brown hair and was rather short, adding that the only one of these characteristics that matched him was that he has brown hair.

During additional questioning by prosecutor Cazim Hasanspahic, the witness explained that the witnesses involved in the identification had been questioned beforehand and provided descriptions on the basis of which the identification of defendant Keserovic was eventually carried out.

Keserovic is with joining foreign paramilitary groups and publicly inciting terrorist activities. According to the charges, while in Syria he fought for so-called Islamic State.

State prosecution expert witness Munib Dedovic, who works with the Section for Criminal Technique and Forensics with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Sarajevo Canton, said he established defendant Keserovic’s identity by comparing fingerprints from Sarajevo International Airport with those taken from the Agency for Identification Documents, Registers and Data Exchange of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“It was determined that the fingerprints belonged to the same person. The fingerprints are identical and belong to Jasmin Keserovic,” Dedovic said.

The expert’s findings and opinion were included in the case file on December 26, 2019.

Once the questioning of the witnesses and experts was completed, presiding judge Nenad Seleda said that the defendant had filed a motion to the court, asking to be allowed to communicate and socialise with other defendants who had been in Syria.

As the prosecution had not expressed its views before the hearing, prosecutor Hasanspahic said that he left it up to the Detention Unit to decide on the issue and “allow all that can be allowed”.

The trial is due to continue on August 20.

* This article was amended to remove the names of returnee witnesses from Syria after the Trial Chamber subsequently ruled that their names should not be made public.