LOC13:36
10:36 GMT
GENEVA, Aug 24 (KUNA) -- The Office of Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) on Thursday said that it has filed an indictment in the Federal Criminal Court against a 30-year-old woman from the Zurich area who is suspected of 'Jihadi travelling'.
The OAG accuses the woman of offences under the Federal Act on the Proscription of Al-Qaeda, Islamic State (IS) and Associated Organisations.
"The OAG claims pecifically to have proof that the woman, a Swiss citizen, travelled illegally in December 2015 with her then 4-year-old child from Egypt to Greece with the intention of reaching Syria via Turkey in order to join the proscribed terrorist organisation, the so-called Islamic State (IS). The accused was prevented from continuing her journey by the Greek authorities and then arrested at Zurich airport on her return to Switzerland in January 2016", said the OAG in a press release from its head quarter in the Swiss capital Bern.
The present indictment must be considered within the overall context of the OAG's strict policy, supported by fedpol, of prosecuting all Jihadi travellers.
The OAG bases its policy on the legal precedent set by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court: in a judgment issued in February 2017 (6B_948/2016), the court upheld the conviction of a Jihadi traveller who was planning to join IS in April 2015, but who was arrested while boarding a plane at Zurich airport.
The OAG will submit its proposal for the sentence at the main hearing before the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona. The accused is presumed innocent until found guilty by the court in a legally binding judgment. As an indictment has been filed, the Federal Criminal Court is now responsible for providing further information. (end)
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