INDICTMENT FILED AGAINST A CITIZEN OF THE REPUBLIC OF TÜRKIYE FOR SMUGGLING MIGRANTS

A prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina filed an indictment against the defendant Sahin Sogutlu, born in 1970 in Besna, Adiyaman, Republic of Türkiye, citizen of the Republic of Türkiye.

The defendant is charged with having attempted to illegally transport migrants - citizens of the Republic of Türkiye across the state border with the intention of acquiring illicit property gain.

According to the indictment, the defendant, in collusion with a person known to him, transported eight citizens of the Republic of Türkiye from Sarajevo to the area of Orašje on 13 July 2022 for an agreed monetary compensation in the amount of EUR 600 with the intention of further transferring them from the territory of BiH to the territory of the Republic of Croatia by boat across the Drina River, in which way he acted contrary to Article 6 of the Protocol against Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, which supplements the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

The defendant, together with the smuggled persons, was caught and stopped by the police officers of the Posavina Canton Ministry of the Interior, in the immediate vicinity of the place where they were brought next to the Sava River.

The defendant is charged with having committed the criminal offence of human smuggling in violation of Article 189 (1) of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in conjunction with Article 26 of the same Code.

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