STA, 26 August 2019 - A 25-year-old Moroccan citizen and 18-year-old from Algeria pleaded guilty in Novo Mesto on Monday to abducting a 79-year-old man near the Croatian border in May and using his car to get to Italy. They were each handed a 21-month prison sentence, which is in line with the plea bargain.
The two apologised to the abducted man and to Slovenia, expressing remorse and arguing they had suffered from mental and physical problems due to the long journey to Europe. The Algerian said he had left his home country in September 2018 and the Moroccan in December.
The pair have been in detention since 10 May together with another Algerian, whose age however remains to be determined by the authorities. He claims to be a minor even though he stated he was 18 when he initially applied for asylum.
Novo Mesto District Court judge Betka Šimc handed the pair nine months each in prison for robbery, seven for abduction and six for car theft to confirm a combined sentence of 21 months.
She assessed the plea bargain as favourable for the defendants, saying the prosecution had probably considered their young age. Still, their youth cannot serve as an excuse, she added, noting they had left their countries out of fear for their life while they ended up putting another man's life in peril.
After serving the sentence they will be deported from Slovenia and will not be allowed to ask for re-entry for five years.
They will moreover need to pay the local man EUR 213 in damages to cover the costs of a replacement car he used after the incident in which his car was damages.
The man was seeking EUR 50,000 in damages from the two for the fear and health-related consequences suffered but the court asked him to seek the damages in a civil lawsuit, arguing proving the remaining damage would protract proceedings excessively.
A group of migrants - the reports suggested four men - tied up the man in his vineyard near the south-eastern town of Črnomelj on the border with Croatia on 8 May. They put him into the boot of his car and then drove around Slovenia for several hours.
The abductors stopped the car near a village close to the town of Sežana on the south-western border with Italy, untied and released the man, and proceed on foot to Italy. They were arrested there by Italian police and handed to Slovenia.
Under Slovenia's penal code, abduction carries a prison sentence of six months to ten years, or less if the abductor releases the victim of their own accord, whereas theft carries a sentence of up to two years.
The incident, which came amid a continuing flow of migrants through Slovenia, stirred the country and also marked the campaign for the 26 May elections to the European Parliament.
Security measures on the border with Croatia have been stepped up since and mixed patrols have been introduced on the border with Italy.
Related: Abduction Suspects Detained, Analysts Fear Incident Will Spur Anti-Migrant Populism
