Tuzla Cantonal Court sentenced six persons accused of organized human trafficking in connection with the exploitation of children for forced begging to a total of 74 years in prison.
”Saban Salcinovic, the organizer of the group, was sentenced to 22 years in prison, Ibro Dzinic to 16 years, Halil Salihovic to 15 years, Berisa Dzinic to 11 years, while two other members of the group, Almir Muharemovic and Jasmin Mujakic, were sentenced to five years in prison each, ” it was announced from the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office.
It is important to mention that the indictment stated that from 2017 to February 2021, members of the group forced several children between the ages of four and 14 to beg, using their insufficient mental development, the position of helplessness and the children’s inability to resist.
They would wake up the children in the early hours of the morning, regardless of the weather conditions, transported them to different locations in more than 20 places in the Tuzla Canton (TC) or other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), supervised them during the begging, and the children had to hand over amounts of 40 BAM to 150 BAM per day to the organizer or members of the group.
During this process, the children were exposed to all weather conditions, with inadequate clothes and footwear, hungry, constantly under the threat of using physical force against them, or they were even beaten and constantly insulted, the indictment stated.
The Tuzla Cantonal Court extended the pretrial detention for the accused Saban Salcinovic, Ibro Dzinic and Halil Salihovic after the announcement of the first-instance verdict.
E.Dz.
