Bosnia To Repatriate and Bring Islamic State Fighters to Trial

Lieutenant General Paul LaCamera pictured in 2013. (Wikimedia Commons)

Bosnia is organizing the return and prosecution of two Bosnian nationals suspected of fighting for Islamic State (ISIS) forces in Syria, according to a March 11 statement by the Bosnia-Herzegovinian Security Minister Dragan Mektic, reports Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). The fighters were identified while detained in a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-run detention center in northern Syria following their capture last year, and since then have received Interpol warrants.

This process aligns with the U.S. administration’s wishes; in a series of February tweets from his personal Twitter account, President Trump expressly requested the repatriation and trial of the estimated 800 ISIS fighters of European descent captured and detained in Syria. If not tried, warned the president, the U.S. will release them back into Syria. The administration’s request came in the past months’ disintegration of the Islamic State’s territory and its anticipated defeat, Al Jazeera reports.

Many European nationals have traveled to Syria to fight for ISIS. According to Reuters, 241 Bosnian adults left Bosnia or the Bosnian diaspora for Syria and/or Iraq between 2012 and 2016. Since then, 150 children have been born to these Bosnians without official documentation.

The process of joining Islamic State forces, however long ago, poses a specific problem to repatriation. One must renounce their previous state to join the Islamic State, turning in their ID card to ISIS authorities and destroying their birth certificate.

Top U.S. General in Iraq Lieutenant General Paul LaCamara explained the difficulty of repatriation to CNN reporters: “The real question is, it’s not just the prisoners, the detainees, it’s what are we going to do with these stateless people?”