Having held a hearing to deliberate on a plea agreement and a sentencing hearing in the case of Armen Dželko (S1 2 K 034393 20 K), the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina hand down today, on 15 July 2020, a judgment finding the accused Armen Dželko guilty of the commission of the criminal offense of Organizing a Terrorist Group under Article 202d (2) of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in connection with the criminal offense of Terrorism under Article 201 of the same Code.
The Court imposed on the accused Armen Dželko a sentence of imprisonment for a term of three (3) years and six (6) months. The time the accused spent in custody, running from 24 December 2019 to 21 May 2020, and from 23 June 2020 onwards, shall be credited towards the imposed prison sentence.
In addition, the Court issued a decision extending custody of the accused, pursuant to which custody can last until the accused is committed to serve the imposed prison sentence, but no longer than the expiration date of the sentence imposed.
The accused Armen Dželko has been found guilty because he had left, on 12 February 2013, the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina through the Sarajevo International Airport with the intent to fight, as a member of the ISIL terrorist organization on the side of the so called Islamic State organized in the territory of Syria and Iraq. Having arrived in Syria, the accused became a member of the ISIL terrorist organization, which intended by its daily armed actions, that is, attacks on the population, killings, unlawful imprisonment, hostage-taking, and other acts, to force the Syrian legitimate authorities to change the constitutional system and the political regime. The accused had stayed within the said terrorist organization through December 2019, when he surrendered to the Kurdish and allies’ forces in the territory of Syria, along with the remaining ISIL members in Syria after their military defeat.
