The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced Hamza Labidi on Friday to a year in prison for joining ISIS formations in Syria.

According to the indictment, Labidi went to Syria with his family in June 2014 and joined ISIS, which the United Nations (UN) declared a terrorist organisation, when he was 15 years old.

The young man pleaded guilty to the charges, but neither he nor his lawyer were present at the sentencing.

Labidi joined his stepfather, Emir Alisic, in Syria. Alisic was previously sentenced to two years and six months behind bars for organising a terrorist group.

At the hearing to review the guilty plea, prosecutor Biljana Golijanin said that, although the minimum sentence of three years in prison was prescribed for this act, special mitigating circumstances were taken into account for Labidi.

“The accused left the territory as a minor, he did not have a say in it,” said Golijanin, adding that Labidi had reached the age of maturity in Syria and that he was charged for his activities from after he came of age and until he returned to Bosnia.

Labidi is one of the seven Bosnian citizens who have been deported from Syria in December 2019.