Page 74 - Cyber Terrorism and Extremism as Threat to Critical Infrastructure Protection

SECTION I: EXTREMISM, RADICALIZATION AND CYBER THREATS AS AN IMPORTANT
SECURITY FACTORS FOR COUNTERING TERRORISM PROCESSES

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their views during the course of the trial (e.g. contempt of court or commitment to jihad-
30
ist ideology ), which remained particularly striking during the closing argument of the first
defendant . The second defendant was acquitted; he subsequently joined the Islamic State in
31
Iraq and died during a 2014 suicide bombing. The third defendant was also acquitted of the
charges and joined a terrorist group in Syria (Šikman, 2018).
In 2015, criminal proceedings were conducted against a defendant charged with the offence
of incitement to terrorism. In this case, as stated in the judgment, the defendant was a mem-
ber of the Salafi community in BiH, which was organized outside the official institutions of
the Islamic Community of BiH. During 2013 and 2014, as a religious authority in the Salafi
community, he premeditatedly carried out these actions in several BiH cities (Velika Kladuša,
Cazin, Bužim, and Gornja Maoča) in order to propagate and spread Islamic radicalism (Sud
32
BiH, 2015, p 2) . Following such a public incitement, the Court found that a large number of
the members of the Salafi community in BiH – BiH citizens – left BiH and joined the Islamic
State terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq. While participating in the terrorist activities in
Syria and Iraq, they carried out actions with elements of terrorism offences; a number of them
died, while others continued to participate in the activities of the terrorist organization they
had joined (Sud BiH, 2015, p 4).

In 2015, two terrorist acts were committed: one against Zvornik Police Station, during which
one police officer was killed; and the other on personnel of the BiH Armed Forces in Sarajevo,
during which two members were killed. In both cases, the offenders of these terrorist acts died
(in the first case, the offender was fatally shot during a confrontation with police, while in the
second case, the offender committed suicide). Both offenders were members of, or closely
related to, the Salafi communities (Šikman, 2016, p 170; Šikman, 2018, p 124).

From mid-June 2017 to 10 April 2018, two defendants planned and prepared the procurement
of weapons (a M84 machine gun, hand grenades, ammunition and shells) to carry out terrorist
attacks in BiH (against the building of the BiH State Investigation and Protection Agency in
Sarajevo, and the building of the Ministry of the Interior of the Tuzla Canton). To this end, the
first defendant had repeatedly come into contact with members of the radical Salafi movement
in BiH, including the second defendant. After obtaining the weapons to carry out the planned
terrorist act, he recorded a video jihad death note and demanded that it be released to the me-
dia after the commission of the act (Sud BiH, 2019).

29 At the beginning of the trial, the defendants refused to stand up, which is a statutory obligation, and they wore
caps on their heads, which the Court could associate with clothing details marking religious affiliation. The de-
fendants stated that they honoured only the court of Allah and did not wish to participate in the rituals acknowl-
edging the earthly court of law, confirming that they did not intend to stand up and show respect to a court they
did not acknowledge (Sud BiH, 2012, p 24).
30 In the course of the criminal proceedings, the first defendant demonstrated commitment to the idea, stating the
following: “a Muslim fights in the way of Allah, and a non-believer in the way of Shaitan. I am Allah’s protégé,
you are Shaitan’s protégés because you are not Muslims” (Sud BiH, 2012, p 27).
31 In his closing argument at the trial, the first defendant spoke in a calm voice, in terms of firm beliefs, rather than
threat: “Do you really think that you will, if you sentence me to a milder or harsher sentence, this will stop no
one. He is prepared to die, he leaves his family, he leaves everything ... do not put everything on my shoulders to
stop it, it won’t help anyone” (Media Gerila, 2013: 2.36-2.53).
32 Specifically, the defendant gave speeches at gatherings attended by members of the Salafi community, which
were posted on YouTube, and sent public messages aimed at inciting the members of the Salafi communities to
join the ISIL organized terrorist group and, as the members of that group, participate in its activities by sending
them public messages quoted in the court judgment (Sud BiH, 2015, p 3).

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