Trial against terror suspects kicks off in BiH

21/07/2006

The trial against three suspects charged with plotting terrorist attacks on unidentified Western targets in Europe opened in Sarajevo on Thursday.

(OHR Morning Media Brief - 21/07/06; AP, Reuters, BBC - 20/07/06; AP, Reuters, ISN Security Watch - 03/05/06)

The three suspected terrorists and their lawyers sit in the courtroom of the Bosnian State Court. [Getty Images]

The trial of three suspects charged with plotting terrorist attacks on unidentified Western targets in Europe opened in Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) State Court in Sarajevo on Thursday (20 July).

Mirsad Bektasevic, a 19-year-old Swedish national of Bosnian origin, and Abdulkadir Cesur, a 21-year-old Turkish national living in Denmark, were arrested on 19 October 2005 on suspicion of terrorist activities. A police raid on the premises they were renting turned up a "suicide belt" and black masks, nearly 20kg of explosives, and videotapes showing how to make of a bomb and giving instructions for prayer before a suicide attack.

The third indictee, 29-year-old Bajro Ikavonic, is a BiH citizen. He was arrested the following month along with two other Bosnians, Senad Husanovic and Amir Bajric, who were later released on bail.

Bektasevic and Cesur arrived in BiH with the intention to commit a terrorist act -- either there or elsewhere in Europe country -- in order to pressure countries to pull their forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan, prosecutors say. The two men allegedly rented apartments in Sarajevo and made contact with Ikanovic, from whom they bought explosives.

An audiotape of a conversation over a mobile phone showed Bektasevic, codenamed "Maximus," as asking a man identified as Abdul Basit to send him money "for the really good stuff I found here".

After busting the group last year, the BiH authorities notified the Danish and British authorities of their findings. That led to several arrests, including that of Basit. Swedish authorities have also co-operated in the investigation.

Quoting the indictment, the AP reported that the "persons arrested in Great Britain, who are charged with the criminal act of causing an explosion and general danger, Junuz Culi and Vasem Ahmet Mugala, owned a Swedish telephone number and a Bosnian telephone number that was used by suspect Mirsad Bektasevic".

Rejecting all charges, defence attorneys have described the indictment as legally untenable and the evidence as "questionable".

But the prosecutors appear confident they will be able to prove their case.