On April 26, 2015, around 1.30 AM, at the “Santos” motel, in Presevo, and with the intent to obtain material benefit in an undetermined amount that will be paid after transportation to the final destination is finished, the defendant enabled for five foreign citizens transport/ illegal transit through the Republic of Serbia, for the purpose of their further departure to the EU countries – Germany. The illegal transit through the Republic of Serbia was enabled to a larger number of foreign nationals, all from Syria, who previously illegally crossed the border between Republic of Serbia and Republic of Macedonia. The defendant came to Presevo, at the motel "Santos", where foreign citizens were waiting. After foreign citizens entered in vehicle, he started a pre-arranged drive, towards bus station in Bujanovac. The plan was that foreign citizens from Bujanovac travel by bus to Belgrade for the purpose of further departure to EU countries - Germany. When he came to Bujanovac , around 1:45 AM, he stopped his vehicle on the highway and ordered foreign citizens to leave the vehicle, showing them the direction to the bus station in Bujanovac. At that moment, police patrols from the border police station Bujanovac came across, stopped the foreign nationals and the defendant, and prevented further transit and the illegal transport through Serbia.
Based on indictment of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Vranje, and confession of the defendant that he had enabled the illegal border crossing and smuggling of persons from Art. 350. para 3. in relation to paragraph 2 of the CC of RS, the Basic Court in Bujanovac sentenced the defendant based on the testimony of police officers M.S. and N.N., and testimony of the witnesses.
Basic Court of Bujanovac
Proceeding the concrete case, both the prosecutor and court qualified it as a more serious form of the offence defined in Art 350, paragraph 2 thus declaring jurisdiction of the Basic Court in Bujanovac (at the time of the commission, stipulated punishment for this offence was imprisonment ranging from six months to five years).
If the competent authorities, when qualifying the offence committed by the defendant Z.A had taken into account the fact that the defendant by transporting five persons who had illegally entered the territory of the Republic of Serbia fulfilled the elements of the offence stipulated in Art 350, paragraph 3 in relation to paragraph 2 (since he had smuggled a large number of persons), then the Higher Public Prosecutor and the Higher Court would have had jurisdiction in the first instance proceedings.
Consequently, the defendant Z.A. could not have been sentenced to imprisonment for a period shorter than three years for thus qualified criminal offence of Illegal Crossing of State Border and Human Trafficking.
Having declared jurisdiction in this case, the Court imposed the sentence of imprisonment to the defendant Z.A. specifying that he would serve the sentence at the place of his residence without electronic surveillance. The Court also pointed out that while deciding on the form and amount of punishment, it took into account mitigating circumstances – the defendant was a senior juvenile who just turned 20, living in poor conditions and had not been convicted before.