Attempted to join ISIL: Šabić gets one year in prison

A prosecutor from the Terrorism Department of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has filed an indictment against BiH citizen Nermin Šabić, who attempted to travel to Syria and join the structures of the terrorist organization "ISIL". The accused pleaded guilty under a plea agreement, and a sentence of one year in prison has been proposed, Patria reports.

Šabić was born in 1988 in Kranj, Slovenia, resides in Velika Kladuša, and is a BiH citizen.

The accused is charged with, at the end of 2014, after establishing contact via the internet with his brother, who is in the territory of Syria, where he joined the formations of the so-called "ISIL", which was declared a terrorist organization by a UN Security Council decision, collecting and preparing funds and documents in order to travel to Syria and join the structures of the so-called "ISIL".

Law enforcement agencies gathered evidence that the suspect went to Sarajevo, from where he intended to further travel to the territory of Turkey, and then illegally cross the border into the territory of Syria.

In this attempt, the accused was prevented in Sarajevo, where he was located and deprived of his liberty by police officers of the Ministry of Interior of the Sarajevo Canton. The accused is charged with attempting to join a foreign military or paramilitary formation operating outside Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He is accused of committing the criminal offense - Unlawful formation and joining of foreign paramilitary or parapolice formations under Article 162b, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Given that the accused, in the presence of his defense attorney, pleaded guilty under a plea agreement, and that a sentence of one year in prison has been proposed in accordance with the agreement, the indictment together with the agreement has been forwarded to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and law enforcement agencies, in cooperation with partner agencies around the world, are conducting intensive activities to detect and prosecute BiH citizens for participation or attempted participation on foreign battlefields in Syria and Iraq.