PROCEEDINGS AGAINST GANIĆ BEING UNJUSTIFIABLY DRAGGED ON

BANJA LUKA, JANUARY 15 /SRNA/ – The war crime committed against members of the Yugoslav People’s Army /JNA/ in Dobrovoljačka Street in Sarajevo was the result of the official policy of the then Muslim leadership.

However, 33 years later, despite numerous pieces of evidence, there has been no judicial outcome, while the proceedings before the Court of BiH are being unjustifiably prolonged, Viktor Nuždić, acting director of the Republika Srpska Research Centre of War, War Crimes and Tracing Missing Persons, told SRNA.

Nuždić emphasized that, after numerous obstructions, the trial of Ejup Ganić et.al. has been dragging on indefinitely, with no indication of when or if it will be finalised.

He noted that no one has ever been held accountable, not even disciplinarily, for the suspension of the investigation, nor has anyone explained the reasons or presented arguments based on which the investigation was halted.

"Prosecutors and judges act at their own discretion, shifting responsibility onto one another. While we all go around in a vicious circle, verdicts for crimes committed against Serbs are absent," Nuždić said.

He recalled that international prosecutor Jude Romano issued an order to suspend the investigation as far back as 2012, without a single justified reason, and that an indictment for this crime was not filed until 2022.

"There is a persistent attempt in Dobrovoljačka Street case and in other crimes committed in Sarajevo, to impose a narrative that the crimes were committed by paramilitary formations, that Caco, Ćelo, and Juka were responsible, and that the former authorities of the so-called Republic of BiH were not involved," Nuždić pointed out.

According to him, this is a classic example of spin and manipulation, because paramilitary formations were merely executors of the official policy of the Muslim leadership.

He stressed that it is important for the Republika Srpska institutions to continue promoting the truth about crimes committed against Serbs during the past war in BiH.

Nuždić stated that the Republika Srpska Centre has documented, researched, and presented to the public its findings on the crime in Dobrovoljačka Street in the book "Reconstruction of the Crime, Deconstruction of the Myth," as well as in the "Atlas of Crimes Against Serbs During the Defensive–Patriotic War".

At a hearing in the Ejup Ganić et.al. case, who are on trial for the attack on the JNA convoy in Dobrovoljačka Street, a prosecutor from the Prosecutor's Office of BiH insisted that the record include an earlier statement by witness Sakib Avdibegović, according to which a voice was heard over a Motorola radio carried by Nusret Šišić, known as Dedo, saying that the convoy should be "disarmed and burned".

The continuation of the trial in the Ejup Ganić et.al. case is scheduled for February 18.