The Sarajevo Trial of 1983 was not merely a legal proceeding, but the punishment of a set of ideas. Alija Izetbegović and fellow intellectuals were accused of attempting to overthrow the regime. The fourteen-year prison sentence imposed on Alija revealed the extent to which the state perceived Islamic consciousness as a threat.
Alija regarded the trial as a clear example of the instrumentalization of law. In his prison writings, he emphasized that the accusations against him were constructed not for a thinker, but for an imaginary leader of a dangerous organization.
The Sarajevo case resonated widely in international public opinion. Human rights organizations described the verdict as political, and many European academic circles defined Alija as a “prisoner of conscience.” When he was released on 25 November 1988, he returned to public life not only as a thinker, but as a leader.