Vilić: Those who leave and encourage departure to foreign battlefields will not go unpunished!

The Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of BiH, together with the BiH Prosecutor's Office, initiated and organized a workshop aimed at the effective implementation of Article 162b of the Criminal Code of BiH, which criminalizes the participation of our citizens in military, paramilitary, and paramilitary police formations on foreign battlefields, writes the Patria News Agency.

Representatives of police and other security agencies in BiH, the BiH Prosecutor's Office, the BiH Court, and certain international organizations participated in the workshop. The arrival of FBI representatives was planned, but they canceled their participation for justified reasons, and a new, larger-scale conference was announced, which they will organize.

Mirsad Vilić, Director of the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies, stated that BiH faced major social unrest at the beginning of the year, followed by catastrophic floods that unfortunately claimed lives.

- These were significant and serious problems that highlighted the need to strengthen coordination between law enforcement agencies and the Armed Forces or authorities, on the one hand, and on the other, in order to respond more effectively and strongly to natural disasters and all social phenomena. I sincerely hope that we have all learned lessons from all of this, which will benefit us in the future and prevent such situations and unfortunate events from passing without our help to those who need it most, solely due to a lack of mutual coordination – said Vilić.

He further added that today we face a new challenge related to the departure of BiH citizens to armed conflicts around the world.

- Namely, it has been observed that a certain number of BiH citizens are joining paramilitary units outside of BiH. Organized or independently, for certain monetary amounts or other privileges, and who, after a certain period, return to the country and engage in propaganda activities and encourage others to commit the same criminal offense. This challenge places additional demands on us to jointly eradicate this phenomenon, if not eradicate it, then reduce it to the lowest possible level. The problem we are now facing is a problem that all countries in the world have been facing for years. We do not yet have enough experience in this field – emphasized Vilić.

Otherwise, Vilić noted that in the context of this problem, we have a clear reaction from the citizens of BiH, i.e., society as a whole.

- The BiH Parliament adopted amendments to the Criminal Code that sanction the illegal formation of paramilitary or paramilitary police organizations. In this way, an environment has been created to send a clear message to those who would want to participate in or contribute to such phenomena in any way that they will not go unpunished. This seems simple and it is, but provided that the agreement reached by our politicians through amendments to the Criminal Code is translated into practice, i.e., into mutual coordination, so that we, as police agencies, in cooperation with the state Prosecutor's Office and the Court, provide an increasingly strong security response to this negative social phenomenon – added Vilić.

Goran Salihović, Chief Prosecutor of BiH, supports this meeting where new legal solutions and implemented activities are being discussed.

- We are among the first in the region to apply this law and we have seen that we recently had a successful operation. And I think that all segments of society should support the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies and their cooperation of all police bodies on this path. This phenomenon is not only in BiH; we see that it is happening in the immediate vicinity where certain individuals are joining paramilitary formations on the battlefields in Iraq, Syria, and Ukraine. Such a conference is welcome, and BiH thus shows that it is ready to implement this legal provision – said Salihović.

Vlado Azinović, a university professor and expert in the fight against terrorism, believes that the cooperation of judicial and police bodies in combating this global problem is very important and crucial for security in BiH.

- I am glad that the Directorate for Coordination has recognized that the academic community can also make a modest contribution. In a country with the highest number of unemployed young people aged 15 to 24 in the world, criminalization and arrests cannot be the only mechanisms to combat this phenomenon. We need to develop other deterrence and prevention programs that will involve other elements of society, from families, educational institutions, and even the media. Because, criminalization and repressive mechanisms alone will not solve this problem – emphasized Azinović.