Kosovo woman, man repatriated from Syria charged with terror

PRISTINA, Kosovo – Kosovo prosecutors on Tuesday filed terrorism charges against an Albanian woman and a man for allegedly joining the Islamic State group in Syria.

A prosecutors’ office statement said the defendant woman identified as V.K. and the man identified as F.D. left Kosovo in March 2015 to first go to neighbouring Skopje, North Macedonia, and then to Turkey where they crossed the Syrian border to join IS until early 2019 when they handed themselves over to Kurdish forces.

In April, they were part of a group of 110 Kosovo citizens repatriated from Syria.

Both are charged with organization and participation in a terror group. If convicted, they could face prison sentences of up to 15 years.

Kosovo authorities say 30 of the country’s citizens are still actively supporting terror groups in Syria.

Scores of Kosovo citizens have been convicted of or charged with supporting terror groups since 2015 when authorities reinforced anti-terror legislation.