Switzerland indicts 2 men on terrorism-related charges

GENEVA AP Swiss federal prosecutors on Monday declared an indictment of a Kosovar and a Swiss-Macedonian dual national on terrorism-related charges and spreading the ideology of the banned extremist group Islamic State The -year-old Kosovar and the -year-old dual national who were not identified by name are suspected of having carried out indoctrination financing and recruitment of the Swiss chapter of a Kosovar terrorist organization over the last decade mostly in the Geneva area the Swiss Attorney General s office disclosed The two men were arrested in September in connection with an scrutiny into their alleged help for the Islamic State group The subjects allegedly launched a drive to drum up backing and funds for a Salafi-jihadi ideology with hopes to destabilize Kosovo and seize territory to rule under sharia law The defendants face charges including participation in a terrorist group bribery of constituents agents and money laundering as well as for illegally drawing chosen social benefits in Switzerland according to the prosecutors The affair now moves to the federal criminal court Under Swiss law the individuals are entitled to a presumption of innocence until the judicial process runs its full syllabus and ends with a guilty verdict Switzerland whose guidelines of neutrality aims to keep it out of conflicts has largely avoided the violent extremism that swept across other parts of Europe and around the world in fresh decades Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in with majority Western nations recognizing its sovereignty but Serbia and its allies Russia and China don t Source