A Bosnian court has sentenced an Italian citizen to one year in prison after he confessed to being part of a group that extorted money from foreigners escorting pilgrims to the Medjugorje shrine.
The court imposed the sentence after finding Luca Cobre, the manager of a hotel in Medjugorje, guilty of organised crime.
Medjugorje is a small village where a shrine marks the apparitions of the Virgin Mary apparently witnessed by six young people in 1981.
The extortion group allegedly threatened to close Italian tourist agencies or non-governmental organizations in Medjugorje and expel their owners if they did not pay. Its members also allegedly tried to force pilgrimage tour operators to rent their hotels.
