The Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of the Tuzla Canton filed an indictment against eight persons (who were deprived of their liberty on October 29, 2025 and are in custody) due to the existence of reasonable suspicion that they committed the prolonged criminal offense of human trafficking related to the exploitation of two girls born in 2009 for the purpose of prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation.
The indictment was brought against four persons who at the time of the commission of the criminal acts were officers of the Police Directorate of the MUP TK Besim Kopić (51), Miralem Halilović (46), Jasmin Modrić (30) and Dževad Požegić (55), and against Šemsudin Kadrić (39), Zijad Jagodić (61), Sulejman Šehić (67) and Nedim Avdić (41).
The indictment was submitted to the Tuzla Cantonal Court for confirmation. It was proposed to the competent court that, after the confirmation of the indictment, the detention measure of these persons be extended within the legally prescribed period.
The investigation against these persons, after the deprivation of liberty, was conducted in a period of less than three months, and the indictment was supported by numerous material evidence, statements, expert reports and the results of other investigations conducted in the previous period.
The team of prosecutors and investigators of the Criminal Police Sector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, continues to conduct intensive and extensive investigative actions to determine additional circumstances about persons who could be linked to these crimes. The public will be informed about the results of the investigation in a timely manner.
Kopić, Kadrić, Halilović, Modrić and Šehić are accused of recruiting, enticing, transporting to different locations, handing them over to other persons and hiding two girls, victims of human trafficking, for the purpose of exploiting them through prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation, and they exploited them sexually and gave them money for it.
Jagodić, Požegić and Avdić are accused of sexually exploiting girls during the mentioned period and paying them for it, even though they were aware that they were minors and victims of human trafficking.
The girls are placed and taken care of in social welfare institutions, where they are provided with all necessary and necessary health and psychosocial protection.
Considering the nature of the cases and criminal acts, the actions that are part of the incrimination in this procedure, as well as the necessary need to protect minors who are victims of serious crimes, and the fact that after the indictment is filed and confirmed, the court proceedings are closed to the public in accordance with the criminal legislation in the FBiH, the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of Tuzla Canton will not and cannot provide any additional information and statements regarding the case related to this indictment.
Any additional communication with the media and the public, about a case in which minors are victims of serious crimes and sexual exploitation, would be contrary to the provisions of domestic regulations and international conventions such as: the FBiH Law on Protection and Treatment of Children and Minors in Criminal Proceedings, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as well as the FBiH Criminal Code, which in Article 219a defines the criminal offense of violation of the privacy of a child.
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