INDICTMENT ISSUED AGAINST THREE PERSONS FOR SMUGGLING OF PERSONS

The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued an Indictment against the following persons:

-        Haris Karamehmedović, born in 1968 in Sarajevo, a citizen of Bosnia and  Herzegovina,

-        Damir Miličević, born in 1981 in Ljubuški, a citizen of Bosnia and  Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia, and

-        Jasmin Kajanija, born in 1975 in Ljubača in Konjic Municipality, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Indictment alleges that, on 13/14 August 2018, in order to acquire personal material gain, the first accused Haris Karamehmedović as an organizer of a group, and other accused persons as members of that group, organized the acceptance and unlawful transfer of six (6) illegal migrants, one of whom was a minor, all of them citizens of Iran, for an agreed sum of 7,500 Euro and with an aim of organizing their further illegal transfer from Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Republic of Croatia and then to Italy as their final destination.

The accused Haris Karamehmedović, together with Jasmin Kajanija, is charged with accepting migrants in Mostar on the aforementioned date, and with taking the previously agreed amount of money. Then the accused Damir Miličević took over the migrants and transported them illegally, in a motor vehicle, across the state border of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to the territory of the Republic of Croatia, where he left them at a location known to him.

They were prevented in their further attempts as they were detected by the police officers of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia.

The aforementioned actions constitute criminal offence and are in violation of Article 6 of the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (‘Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina’ 3/02) and Article 7, Paragraph 2 of the Law on Border Control (‘Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina’ 53/09, 54/10, 47/14).

The aforementioned accused persons are charged with the commission of the criminal offence of Organizing a Group or Association for the Purpose of Perpetrating the Criminal Offence of Smuggling of Migrants, as referred to in Article 189a, in conjunction with the criminal offence of Smuggling of Persons, as referred to in Article 189 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Indictment has been forwarded to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for confirmation.