INDICTMENT ISSUED AGAINST TEN PERSONS FOR SMUGGLING OF PERSONS

A Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH issued an indictment against ten persons charging them with the criminal offense of Organized Crime under Article 250 in conjunction with the criminal offense of Smuggling of Persons under Article 189 in conjunction with Article 54 of the CC BiH.

An indictment was issued against the following persons:

-        Nikola HRSTIĆ, born in 1964 in Ljubuški, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia,

-        Ljubo HERCEGOV, born in 1980 in Ljubuški, a citizen of BiH,

-        Zdravko KORDIĆ, born in 1995 in Ljubuški, where he resides, a citizen of BiH,

-        Anto HERCEG, born in 1993 in Metković, Croatia, a citizen of BiH,

-        Stojislav ŠUNJIĆ, born in 1977 in Ljubuški, a citizen of BiH,

-        Ljubo PRLIĆ, born in 1994 in Mostar, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia,

-        Joe PRIMORAC, born in 1996 in Split, Republic of Croatia, a citizen of BiH,

-        Kristijan BUNTIĆ, born in 1991 in Čapljina, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia,

-        Ivica ŠUNJIĆ, born in 1963 in Ljubuški, a citizen of BiH, and

-        Zdravko GRIZELJ, born in 1995 in Ljubuški, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia.

The accused are charged with having, in the intention of acquiring unlawful property gain, acted as a group organized for the purpose of smuggling migrants during the period from August to November 2014 and illegally smuggled migrants - citizens of Turkey through the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina across the state border into the Republic of Croatia for further departure to European Union countries.

The indictment alleges that the primary accused HRSTIĆ, as the organizer and leader of the group, hired other members of the group in order to acquire illegal property gain by smuggling several citizens of the Republic of Turkey, who did not possess valid travel documents for movement across and crossing of the state border from the territory of BiH into the territory of the Republic of Croatia for a certain amount of money.

The indictment alleges that the organization of these illegal activities had been arranged by the accused Hrstić together with the citizens of the Republic of Turkey by way of arranging the number of persons, the location and manner of smuggling of migrants, as well as the amount of money that illegal migrants paid to HRSTIĆ to illegally cross the state border. The accused HRSTIĆ would collect the migrants in Mostar after which he would hire other accused persons, who had the roles of drivers and guides in this organized group in circumstances when they would take the illegal migrants across the state border on the territory of the Republic of Croatia on foot as well as the roles of drivers who collected the migrants and transported them to Split, Makarska and Zagreb from where they would continue their journey towards the countries of Western Europe.

The aforementioned actions constitute a criminal offense and are in violation of Article 6 of the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air and Articles 15 and 16 of the Law on Movement and Stay of Aliens and Asylum.

The indictment was forwarded to the Court of BiH for confirmation.