Page 41 - Cyber Terrorism and Extremism as Threat to Critical Infrastructure Protection

DENIS ČALETA, SARA PERKOVIĆ: EXTREMISM AND RADICALIZATION IN THE EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT – SECURITY CHALLENGES
OF RETURN FOREIGN FIGHTERS

When talking about the citizens of BiH that have travelled to Syria and Iraq, we can say that
“another difficulty in cataloguing BiH citizens that have gone to Syria and Iraq is the fact
that a number of people from BiH, who still hold BiH citizenship, are living or working else-
where... The results indicate that, between the spring of 2012 (with the first departure regis-
tered on 25 March 2012) and the end of 2014, a total of 156 male BiH citizens departed from
BiH and other places. At the beginning of the summer of 2013, female BiH citizens started
travelling to Syria as well (with the first departure registered on 17 June 2013), and a total
of 36 women had departed by the end of 2014. Children have also been registered, usually
accompanied by one or both parents, with at least 25 children having left BiH by the end of
2014. All told, this means that 192 adult citizens (male and female) and at least 25 children
have travelled to Syria or Iraq in the period analyzed. Considering the BiH population of
about 3.8 million people, the country has one of the largest contingents of foreign fighters
in Europe by proportion, even when just counting the males who have departed – with more
than 41 fighters per million residents“ (Azinović and Jusić, 2015, p 32). This data is based on
information from the police and security services. However, it is impossible to get complete
data for every individual, and this represents a problem in a later phase if these people are to
return to Bosnia and be processed.

As the data above shows, most of those who left for Syria and Iraq have been killed. However,
all of those who are returning and who are known to have been part of the Islamic State will
be prosecuted. This point was made by state Minister of Security, Dragan Mektić: “Something
is prosecuted, something in phase of prosecuting. There is no one who has return, and that is
not in the phase of prosecuting” (Hadžimusić, 2017, e-source). In BiH the duration of punish-
ments is up to one year. Those who have been punished received their punishment on the basis
of the prohibition against being part of foreign military formations: “Bosnia and Herzegovina
introduced amendments to its Criminal Code in the summer of 2014, even before some of
the states mentioned above. Article 162 (b) – Unlawfully establishing and joining foreign
paramilitary or para-police formations – introduces sanctions for individuals that organize,
lead, train, equip, or mobilized individuals or groups to join foreign military, paramilitary,
or para-police formations that operate outside BiH territory” (Azinović and Jusić, 2015, p
48). BIH citizens that have gone to the Syrian battlefield, in the case of their return, as well
as those that have returned, are realistic threat for carrying out a terrorist act or for recruiting
other potential individuals for carrying out a terrorist act. This is the reason that these acts are
concerning as illegal activities following legal acts in BiH such as Criminal Code, “in addition
to the elementary criminal act of terrorism (Article 201), a new criminal act was introduced in
2003 for financing terrorist activity (Article 202), while in 2010 four more terrorist criminal
acts were introduced: public promotion of terrorist activity (Article 202 a), canvassing for
terrorist activity (Article 202b), training for carrying out of terrorist activity (Article 202c)
and organizing terrorist groups (Article 202d)” (Šikman, 2016, p 171). Dnevni list quotes 46
people having been prosecuted (2019, e-source).

Further: “According to available information from the Court of BIH, 23 people were charged
with the above crimes in BIH up to 2017, relating to BIH citizens leaving the country and
becoming FTFs in Syria and Iraq. The majority of them were charged with Organizing a Ter-
rorist Group, 14 in all, while eight of them were charged with Unlawful Establishing and Join-
ing Foreign Paramilitary or Parapolice Formations. One person was charged with the criminal
act of Encouraging Terrorism Activities in Public. Even though all of these individuals were
charged and sentenced, the judicial politics seems troublesome, since in only five cases was
the sentence within the stipulated penalty (the most lenient sentence being a prison term

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