CUSTODY PROPOSED FOR PERSON SUSPECTED OF FUNDING TERRORIST ACTIVITIES

The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has proposed a measure of custody due to the risk of the suspect’s flight, as well as the danger that, by remaining at large, she could commit a new criminal offense or complete the commenced criminal offense.

Having questioned the suspect, a Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina sent a Motion to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina seeking the measure of custody to be ordered for the following suspect:

-          Sena Hamzabegović, born in 1960 in Tuzla, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Swiss Confederation.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina is conducting an investigation together with SIPA and partner institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad, during which evidence was collected showing that, on several occasions from 2013 to 2018, the aforementioned suspect participated in collecting and providing financial support for the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who were staying on foreign battlefields in Syria and Iraq, even though she knew that the mentioned persons were fighting on the side of the armed formations of the so-called ‘ISIL’, including the formations of ‘Jahbet Al Nusra’, ‘Al Nusrah Front’ and other formations which have been declared terrorist organizations by the United Nations Security Council.

Evidence has been gathered that, on several occasions, the suspect was forwarding money to her husband, who was a high-ranking ISIL member and who is still on the run, even though she knew that the money would be used for the funding of terrorist groups and their activities.

Also, evidence was collected that the suspect personally stayed in the territory of Syria and that she was in contact with the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina in that area and knew for what purposes the money she was forwarding was used.

The Motion to order custody for the suspect, pursuant to Article 132, paragraph 1, items a) and c) of the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was sent to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which scheduled a hearing today to deliberate on the Motion of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina.