Imams given lengthy sentences in terror recruitment trial

TIRANA, May 4 – The Serious Crimes Court found all nine defendants accused of recruiting Albanians to join extremist groups in Syria guilty on Tuesday and ordered them to serve a total of 126 years in a high security prison. Two self-proclaimed imams, Genci Balla and Bujar Hysa, believed to be the leaders of the recruiting cell received 18 years in prison, together with Ferit Pashja who got 17 years. The remainder of the group received sentences ranging from 7-15 years in jail.  The moment the court read the verdict, chants of “Allahu Akbar” erupted, while the nine defendants also issued threats to the panel of judges. Meanwhile, following the sentencing of the self-proclaimed imams the five judges delivering the verdict and their immediate family members have been placed under police protection  following threats issued against them by the defendants and their supporters. The accused had often issued threats against the judges during their trial telling them that ” their time will come” and accusing the prosecutor of “being a tool in the hand of the Americans” . The prosecution had asked for 152 years for the group, who according to investigations indoctrinated Muslim believers in two mosques in the outskirts of Tirana to fight alongside extremists in Syria. The group was arrested in March 2014, while the prosecution said it had secured enough evidence that the accused have managed to convince and sent to Syria several Albanian citizens to fight alongside radical groups including the Islamic State, an activity conducted by the imams mainly in 2013.