Bosnia's US Embassy Gunman Pleads Not Guilty

Jasarevic and two of his accomplices, Emrah Fojnica and Munib Ahmetspahic, entered the plea of not guilty at the State Court of Bosnia on May 23.

Bosnia's State Prosecutor's Office charged Jasarevic, 23, on April 23 with opening fire on the US embassy in Sarajevo, while Fojnica, 20, and Ahmetspahic, 22, were charged with helping Jasarevic commit a terrorist act by driving him to the capital and hiding the weapons.

The three are also charged with being members of an organized terrorist group from the village of Gornja Maoca in northeast Bosnia whose goal, according to the prosecution, was to threaten the US and "destabilize the basic political and constitutional structures of government."

Following the Wednesday hearing, the spokesperson for the Bosnian State prosecution, Boris Grubesic, told reporters that the Prosecutor's Office is ready for the trial and will present around 100 pieces of material evidence and examine 39 witness and experts.

The indictment states that Jasarevic opened fire with an automatic rifle, shooting 105 bullets at the embassy over the course of  50 minutes. During the shootings, he shouted threats at US embassy staff and at citizens who were near the building. He also wounded a police officer guarding the building. He was stopped by a sniper with a shot to his leg. 

Jasarevic, originally from Novi Pazar in Serbia, was in custody for almost six months before the indictment was issued.  After the October attack, police conducted raids on several sites in Bosnia and Serbia, mostly in Gornja Maoca, a centre of the hardline Islamic Wahhabi movement.

 The US Justice Department also issued an indictment which charges Jasarevic with attacking the embassy building and, among other matters, attempting the murder of US embassy staff.