Swiss trial begins of two men on Kosovo-linked terror charges

The two men are accused of having supported and financed an Islamist organisation in Kosovo, the Viti Brothers. Keystone-SDA

Two men from the Balkans will appear before the Swiss Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona today, charged with supporting and participating in an extremist group that had planned to destabilise a region of Kosovo.

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The two accused are a 37-year-old Kosovar and a 34-year-old dual national of Switzerland and Macedonia. Based in the Geneva region, they were arrested in September 2022 after lengthy surveillance and have been languishing in prison ever since.

The charges brought by the office of the Attorney-General are serious: participation in, and support for, a terrorist organisation, bribery of foreign public officials, money laundering, obstruction of criminal proceedings, forgery of documents and fraud by trade, among others. The two men are presumed innocent.

The ‘Geneva Brothers’

The two men are accused of having supported and financed an Islamist organisation in Kosovo, the Viti Brothers. Between 2014 and 2022, they ran its Swiss branch, the so-called Geneva Brothers, which was active in the Lake Geneva area. It brought together men mainly from the Kosovar town of Viti and, to a lesser extent, from northern Macedonia.

The eldest of the accused headed this branch with the title of emir. After recruiting worshippers around the mosque in Petit-Saconnex, Geneva, beginning in 2016 the Geneva Brothers focused on financing the Kosovar organisation.

According to the indictment, the funds collected through subscriptions and donations, but above all through social insurance and Covid credit fraud, amounted to between CHF64,000 ($79,450) and CHF77,000. These are only the amounts sent to Kosovo.

Islamic State and Sharia law

The aim of the Viti Brothers was to take advantage of political destabilisation in Kosovo to seize power in one region and impose an Islamic state governed by Sharia law, according to the prosecution. The money collected in Geneva was used to buy weapons and bribe judges called in to try members of the group.

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In 2016 in Kosovo, the two men are also alleged to have helped to store four Kalashnikov assault rifles, a pistol and 3,000 rounds of ammunition in a safe house. They also allegedly organised indoctrination meetings in Geneva. To this end, they are said to have invited and hosted several imams.

Translated from French with DeepL/gw

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