According to the indictment of the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of Tuzla Canton, the Cantonal Court of Tuzla passed a first-instance and invalid verdict for Algerian citizens Hicham Bellarbi (born in 1994) and Karim Chemini (born in 1997) and sentenced them to 15 years in prison each for the crime of murder.
The indictment charges Belarbi and Chemini with meeting their compatriot Brahimi Abderrezak near the Tuzlanka Department Store on July 30, 2019, half an hour after midnight, demanding money from him, after which they physically attacked him and inflicted 10 knife wounds on him in the neck area, chest and abdomen.
Brahimi died of his injuries shortly afterwards at the University Clinical Centre Tuzla. The Tuzla Cantonal Court extended the detention of the accused in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Criminal Procedure Code, which define the duration of detention after the first instance verdict has been pronounced.
After submitting a written copy of the verdict, the Prosecutor’s Office will assess whether to file an appeal against the first-instance verdict, the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of Tuzla Canton announced.