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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

7 Serbians Jailed for Recruiting, Financing Militants in Syria

Serbian police officers of the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit pose for a picture in their base outside Belgrade October 8, 2014. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

Seven Serbians were on Wednesday convicted for financing and recruiting people to help ISIS in Syria.

A Belgrade court sentenced them to prison terms ranging from seven and a half to 11 years. Three of the seven men were sentenced in absentia.

According to the indictment, prosecutors charged the seven men with "plotting to commit terrorist attacks, financing, recruiting and training others as well as ... for public inciting of terrorism."

All the defendants denied wrongdoing and can lodge an appeal with a higher court.

It is the first such verdict involving Serbs suspected of aiding militants and partly stems from a 2014 law that banned Serbian citizens from taking part in conflicts abroad.

The trial started in 2015.

Wednesday’s “sentence is ... unusually high in our view and off course, we will appeal," Marko Zdjelar, a defense lawyer told reporters.

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