Avoiding Penalties: They Fight in Syria, and Return to Serbia with a Schooling Document

Extremists who leave Serbia to fight in Iraq and Syria receive a document about their schooling there upon their return, reports Patria.

This document serves to help them avoid prison sentences that await them in Serbia for fighting abroad, according to the new law.

Igor Bečić, president of the Committee for the Control of Security Services, confirmed this for tomorrow's "Politika", adding that 11 jihadists recently returned from the battlefields in the mentioned countries.

"We have information and operational data about where they were. They left under the guise of schooling, and they have documentation for it. We know they were on the battlefields, but it is very difficult to prove through a court process," stated Bečić. 

Those who fought on foreign battlefields face a penalty of six months to five years in prison. If they participate in a group, they face a penalty of one to eight years in prison. For organizers who recruit future fighters, the prescribed penalty is from two to 10 years, the newspaper reminds. 

"The departure of fighters to foreign battlefields was recorded as early as 2013. This year, it was determined that several individuals left Serbia," said Bečić. 

Fighters from Kosovo mostly go to foreign battlefields for material reasons, while those from BiH and Sandžak mostly leave due to ideology, the newspaper writes.