SIPA

An investigation by police officials of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) within the case code-named “Serbaz” resulted in the submission of an indictment by the Prosecutor’s Office BH against 13 individuals.

On 8 July 2014, the indictment was confirmed by the Court BH due to grounded suspicion that these individuals had committed the criminal offence of organised crime in conjunction with the criminal offence of trafficking in human beings through work exploitation of several hundred individuals in Azerbaijan and criminal offence of money laundering.

The indicted individuals are suspected of organising departures of hundreds of workers, mostly from BH, particularly from Gradiška, to Azerbaijan for employment, by using difficult financial and living situation of the recruited individuals.

After their recruitment in BH, the workers went to Azerbaijan where they were placed in an inhumane and inappropriate accommodation, they were denied payment of agreed compensation for their work, they were being fined and upon arrival their travel documents were taken from them. They were kept in slave-like conditions, completely dependent on the indicted individuals because they did not have any means of subsistence and their movement was limited.

The State Investigation and Protection Agency obtained initial information about the work exploitation of the BH citizens in Azerbaijan by an organised criminal group in July 2009, whereupon a series of measures and activities within its competence were carried out aimed to confirm and expand the findings and identify a complete “modus operandi” of the organised criminal group. A result of the activities carried out by SIPA in this case was the submission of a report on grounds for suspicion on the perpetrated criminal offence and perpetrators against 12 individuals and several report amendments to the Prosecutor’s Office BH.

Under the supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office BH, SIPA carried out a number of measures and actions aimed at finding a number of victims in this case and collecting necessary documents and other evidence.

Members of SIPA found the victims of trafficking in human beings in this case and took statements from more than 60 victims, collected intelligence from more than 100 individuals, seized documents in 20 cases, analysed evidence, continually performed operational field checks and other measures and actions from its competence with the aim to prove the work exploitation of the BH citizens.

During the work on this case, members of SIPA obtained information that the suspects owned immovable property in the Republic of Serbia and Montenegro and that they used unlawfully acquired funds to purchase several buildings in BH. Based on these information, a financial investigation was initiated within this case.

Members of SIPA cooperated with representatives from international organisations, including OSCE Office in Banja Luka, EUPM, non-government organisations and the USA Embassy in BH. Important cooperation was also established with police agencies of the countries of the region and Azerbaijan via Interpol.

The Prosecutor’s Office BH qualified this indictment as the largest in the judicial history of BH for trafficking in human beings and organised crime.

Having in mind the fact that this is a new manifestation of the trafficking in human beings and a very specific and complex case, it required particular commitment and additional effort from the members of SIPA for proving work exploitation as a new type of trafficking in human beings that BH and the countries of the region face. Thereby, SIPA is particularly satisfied with the results of the case so far.

The State Investigation and Protection Agency continues an uncompromising fight against organised crime in BH.