Overview: Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) increased its counterterrorism capacity in 2012 and remained a cooperative partner on international counterterrorism issues. BiH's Joint Terrorism Task Force continued to work toward improving coordination between its many security and police agencies to better counter potential terrorist threats and to better respond to acts of terrorism. However, the task force faced budgetary challenges and a fragmented security and law enforcement sector that made coordination among different agencies difficult. External violent Islamic extremist ideological influences and the presence of regional nationalist violent extremist groups found in the former Yugoslavia represented sources of potential terrorist threats in BiH.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: Following the October 28, 2011 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo, the Ministry of Security established a working group to evaluate methods to improve the coordination of police and security agencies charged with responding to terrorist incidents. To date, the working group has yielded no concrete results. The challenge in coordination stems primarily from overlapping jurisdictions, particularly in Sarajevo, where at least three distinct police forces have a role in responding to terrorist incidents: the State Investigative and Protective Agency (SIPA) – BiH's state-level police authority, Sarajevo cantonal police, and Federation entity police. In addition, the state-level Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies (DCPB) is charged with the protection of diplomatic and certain other public facilities. While state-level laws give DCPB the authority to coordinate the responses of all state-level police agencies, this organization remained underfunded and under-supported by government authorities. In practice, SIPA generally takes a lead role in responding to attacks and the Prosecutor's Office has the authority to investigate and prosecute acts of terrorism. The Ministry of Security consulted with state, entity, district, and cantonal police and security agencies to evaluate whether an improved legal framework could be established to enhance security cooperation to counter terrorism.

Bosnia's Joint Terrorism Task Force, led by BiH's Chief Prosecutor, began operations in January 2011. It includes members from BiH's state law enforcement agencies and Brcko District Police. The BiH Ministry of Security funds the Joint Task Force, which operates out of SIPA Headquarters. The Task Force remained in the formative stages, nearly two years after its establishment. The Ministry of Security continued to work toward implementing its 2010-2013 strategy on preventing and combating terrorism, which was adopted in 2010.

To help improve the tracking of entries into Bosnia, the BiH Border Police (BP) installed a new computerized database/software system to support immigration and passenger information collection. The new system, in place since March 2012, links all 55 border crossings and all four airports (Sarajevo, Tuzla, Mostar, and Banja Luka) via the State Police Information Network, a network developed and donated by the U.S. Department of Justice's International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program. The new system provides the BP with immediate access to other supporting databases, including the Agency for Identification Documents, Registers, and Data Exchange, the Ministry of Security, the Foreigner Affairs Service, and Interpol, to run appropriate checks and cross-checks.

BiH saw several terrorism-related prosecutions in 2012. These included:

  • On September 6, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Court of BiH) Appellate Chamber upheld the November 11, 2011 first instance ruling that found Rijad Rustempasic, Abdulah Handzic, and Edis Velic guilty of planning to carry out a terrorist attack and sentenced them to terms ranging from three to four-and-a-half years.

  • On November 20, the Court of BiH issued a first-instance ruling that found Zijad Dervisevic, Amel Sefer, and Sasa Bonic guilty of charges of terrorism and illegal possession of weapons. They were sentenced to eight, seven, and six years imprisonment, respectively.

  • On December 6, the Court of BiH found Mevlid Jasarevic, a Serbian citizen, guilty of terrorism for his October 28, 2011 shooting attack targeting the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo. He was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment, the longest terrorism-related sentence ever handed down in Bosnia. Two other defendants, Emrah Fojnica and Munib Ahmetspahic, were found not guilty of supporting the attack and for being members of a terrorist organization responsible for the attack.

  • The trial of Haris Causevic and five other defendants accused of carrying out the terrorist bombing of the Bugojno police station on June 27, 2010, that killed one police officer and injured six others, began on March 22, 2011 and remained ongoing at year's end.

BiH continued its participation in the Department of State's Antiterrorism Assistance program.

Countering Terrorist Finance: BiH is a member of Moneyval, the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism, a Financial Action Task Force-style regional body. For further information on money laundering and financial crimes, we refer you to the 2013 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume 2, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes: http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/index.htm.

Regional and International Cooperation: BiH's criminal code and related legal framework is harmonized with UN and EU standards related to combating terrorism. BiH law enforcement agencies regularly interacted with their U.S. and European counterparts on counterterrorism investigations. Regional cooperation at the professional law enforcement level with Croatia and Serbia is improving.

Countering Radicalization and Violent Extremism: The main religious communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina – Muslim, Serbian Orthodox, Catholic, and Jewish – worked together, through the Interreligious Council, to promote tolerance and to confront violent extremism within their ranks. As part of their efforts, they conducted mutual exchange programs of young theologians from three major theological educational institutions (Muslim, Serbian Orthodox, and Roman Catholic) and offered workshops for high school students to promote inter-religious dialogue and tolerance.

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