INDICTMENT ISSUED AGAINST FOUR PERSONS IN CASE CODENAMED

The accused include two Tunisian nationals and two nationals of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption has issued an Indictment which includes the following accused persons:

1.            Tarek Oueslati, born in 1985 in Tunisia, a national of Tunisia, who is currently remanded in custody

2.            Mariem Sifi, born in 2000 in Tunisia, a national of Tunisia, in relation to whom certain prohibiting measures have been ordered by the Decision of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina

3.            Alen Fale, born in 1991 in Mostar, a national of Bosnia and Herzegovina

4.            Belmin Škaljić, born in 2000 in Mostar, a national of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

These accused persons are charged with the following: late last year, for the purpose of exploitation, the accused Oueslati found and recruited illegal migrants- citizens of Morocco who were illegally staying in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and for the purpose of obtaining unlawful material gain, giving them a false  promise that he would smuggle them to the Republic of Slovenia and EU territory for the amount of EUR 1,500 per person, he invited them to Mostar, where he hired the accused Škaljić and Fale, introducing them as drivers.

Thereafter, the accused persons drove the migrants to the area of ​​Podveležje, where they brutally robbed and beat them and then left them there in the cold, at an unknown location, after which the migrants were found there by the police officers of the Mostar Police Department, who helped them.

The accused Sifi is charged with using codes, together with the other accused persons and persons known to them, from the cell phones taken from the victims, in order to raise money sent through cash transactions.

These accused persons are charged with treating the smuggled persons for the purpose of exploitation, in order to obtain unlawful material gain, and by committing this criminal offence, they have endangered the health and safety of the smuggled persons, thereby committing the criminal offense of Smuggling of Persons under Article 189, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Indictment has been forwarded to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for confirmation.