BOSNIA - CONVICTED TERRORIST BEKTASEVIC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SARAJEVO 000838 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE (FOOKS) E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2019 TAGS: KJUS PGOV PTER BK SUBJECT: BOSNIA - CONVICTED TERRORIST BEKTASEVIC TRANSFERRED TO SWEDISH PRISON REF: SARAJEVO 1405 Classified By: Charge Judith Cefkin for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Mirsad Bektasevic, a dual Bosnian-Swedish citizen who was convicted in a Bosnian court on charges of terrorism in 2007 (Reftel),successfully petitioned the Bosnian court to serve out the remainder of his prison sentence in Sweden, and was transferred from Bosnia to Sweden on June 10, 2009. Bektasevic and three co-defendants were arrested near Sarajevo in October, 2005 based on information provided by the USG. Among the items confiscated in the raid on their safe house were explosive material and a crudely fashioned suicide belt, and they were accused of plotting terrorist acts in Europe. Bosnian prosecutors, with assistance from an Embassy Legatt and a Department of Justice Advisor, succeeded in obtaining a terrorism conviction for Bektasevic in January 2007 with a prison sentence of 15 years. The sentence was later reduced to eight years, by an appeals panel which ruled that the initial sentence did not take into account mitigating factors such as Bektasevic's age (he was 19 when he was arrested). ¶2. (C) According to a contact at the Swedish Embassy, Bektasevic contacted the Swedish Embassy soon after he was convicted in 2007 and requested that the Embassy support his request to serve his sentence in Sweden. The Swedish government agreed, and earlier this year Bektasevic's motion to serve out his sentence in Sweden was approved by the Bosnian State appellate court. We understand that Bektasevic was handed over to the custody of Swedish police at the Sarajevo airport on June 10. Our Swedish Embassy contact did not know the details of Bektasevic's incarceration in Sweden, but noted that Swedish prisoners can normally file for early release after serving two thirds of their sentence. CEFKIN