ATTACK ON THE JNA COLUMN WAS A CAREFULLY PLANNED STRATEGY THAT OFFERED NO CHANCE FOR A PEACEFUL RESOLUTION OF THE SITUATION IN BiH

EAST SARAJEVO, MAY 26 /SRNA/ - To speak of the "Dobrovoljačka Case" as an isolated incident or a series of unfortunate circumstances would be wrong and inaccurate, because, based on official documents, as well as the testimonies of the participants in the events themselves, it is clear that it was a carefully planned and coordinated strategy that from the very beginning gave no chance for a peaceful resolution of the extremely complex situation in BiH.

The Atlas of Crimes by the Republican Center for the Research of War, War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons states that the attack on the JNA House in the Sarajevo municipality of Stari Grad on May 2 marks the beginning of the final showdown with the JNA in Sarajevo.

This military facility, which had been in the area for several days, did not have a particularly large military significance in terms of being filled with men, equipment, and personnel, but in a symbolic sense it represented a point from which a successful confrontation with the military force embodied in the JNA could be launched.

Members of the "Green Berets", the Territorial Defense of BiH and other paramilitary formations opened fire on the JNA House building on May 2, 1992, shortly before 12:00 p.m.

Lieutenant Colonel Bogoje Božinovski, then head of the Home, testifies about the event itself: "When the attack on the JNA Home began and when we managed to repel the first enemy attack, I informed the duty operations officer at the 2nd Military District Command by phone that the attack on the JNA Home had begun. The officer on duty told me that they would send help immediately.

By the way, from previous conversations with General Milutin Kukanjac, I had orders and instructions that in the event of an attack on the House, I would hold out in defense for one hour, and that help would arrive during that time.

However, at that critical moment, help did not reach us, and after the exchange I heard that the members of the Protection Regiment who had gone to help us had died at Skenderija...

By the way, back on April 15, 1992, I proposed to General Kukanjac that the JNA House be evacuated and that we lock it down, because it was already clear to me then that the House was in a completely hostile environment and that it could not be defended even with incomparably stronger forces than those I had at my disposal.

However, General Kukanjac told me that the House must be defended, and that the Army should remain in Sarajevo...

During the attack on the JNA House, soldier Dragan Pajić told me that the 'Green Berets' were shooting at a city bus that was full of passengers. So, the goal was to accuse the crew of the JNA House of such an act."

In that attack, Dževad Bidžo, a civilian who worked as a porter at the JNA House, was killed, and soldier Vojislav Dučan and Lieutenant Colonel Bogoje Božinovski were wounded. Dragoslav Mitrović, Selver Švraka, Đorđe Sokolović, Todor Sokolović, Mustafa Čašević, Munira Vuga, Milka Šuša and Petar Stanišić were captured.

In addition to being wounded, Lieutenant Colonel Božinovski suffered great psychological and physical torture while in captivity.

He testified about this: "After two days in the hospital, Ismet Bajramović Ćelo and his men burst into the room where I was lying. Since I was still unable to move from the wounds I had sustained and exhausted from the heavy bleeding, they simply lifted me out of bed and carried me into a vehicle.

They took me to the house of a fallen member of the `Green Berets` who had been killed during the attack on the JNA Home. His funeral was supposed to take place that day. People were coming to his house to offer their condolences. Bajramović left me at the entrance to the house with two guards. I was in my pajamas, and Bajramović told the people who came that I was a war criminal who had killed their friend.

At the same time, the videotape that was recorded with my image was broadcast several times by TV Hayat. Because of this, everyone who came out of the house had the right to spit on me, hit me, threaten me with a knife, and when I fell to the ground at one point, someone urinated on me."

Lieutenant Colonel Božinovski was exchanged on May 19, 1992, and as a result of the torture, he was left permanently disabled.

ATTACK ON A JNA COLUMN WHICH WAS GOING TO UNBLOCK THE JNA HOUSE

After being informed that the JNA Home had been attacked, the commander of the 2nd Military District, Milutin Kukanjac, ordered the commander of the 65th Motorized Protection Regiment, Milan Šuput, to head to the JNA Home with part of his unit, clear the blockade, and transport the wounded soldiers to the Military Hospital.

Šuput testified about this: "After receiving orders from Commander Kukanjac and a brief assessment of the situation, I decided to set out to deblock and extract the attacked JNA members with three transporters and two PUH's, 25 people, four of whom were officers.

During the movement from the Command of the 2nd Military District in the direction of the JNA House, on Obala Vojvode Stepe Street, directly near the cinema in the building of the Đuro Đaković Workers' University, the column was ambushed by a massive attack using all types of weapons and implements from paramilitary units.

When the lead APC was hit, the APC driver, soldier Slobodan Jelić, a member of the 4th Sarajevo Corps, as well as another soldier and an officer, were killed.

After the column was attacked, we stopped, got out of the combat vehicles and entered the premises of the cinema, from where we conducted combat operations with the paramilitary units the entire time, on May 2nd and 3rd.

Since I had a radio connection with the commander of the 2nd Military District, I informed him that my column had been attacked and asked for help in breaking the blockade from the cinema. The commander replied that we should hold on and that help would come.

Unfortunately, on May 2, help did not arrive despite the promise. Upon repeated insistence that they provide us with an exit with the help of UNPROFOR, we received assurances from General Milan Aksentijević, otherwise the assistant commander of the 2nd Military District, that help would arrive in the morning hours of May 3 by 10:00 a.m. However, this help did not arrive either, and the fighting continued the next day...

Given that the promised aid had not arrived by 10:00 a.m. on May 3, 1992, I decided to enter into negotiations with the commander of the paramilitary group, Zoran Čegar, whom I had known from before...

The essence of my negotiations was that we would cease combat operations, that we would give them some of the weapons we possessed, and in return they would allow us to go to the Command of the 2nd Military District. After Čegar convinced me that they would honor our agreement, while respecting my demands, I called on my soldiers to leave the cinema and cease combat operations."

In his testimony, Šuput further states: "After the soldiers left the cinema, paramilitary groups led by Zoran Čegar started a general robbery of parts of equipment and weapons from my soldiers.

I realized that Čegar had fooled us, and after all, instead of allowing us to go to the Command of the 2nd Military District, he asked me to go to the BiH Presidency building with the escort of his unit. Unable to do anything, I had to accept, all in order to save the lives of the members of my unit.

Upon arrival at the Presidency building, Lieutenant Colonel Fikret Muslimović, former Chief of Security of the 4th Corps from Sarajevo, whom I had known from before, given that we were in the same class at the academy, ordered the soldiers and officers to be taken to the gymnasium, where members of the JNA who had been captured the day before were already present. I was taken to solitary confinement in the Central Prison in Sarajevo, where I spent 11 days."

In an ambush attack set up by members of the special unit of the Interior Ministry of BiH near the Đuro Đaković Workers' University, Slobodan Jelić /21/, Srećko Jovanović /22/ and Predrag Cerović /23/ were killed, while several people were wounded and captured. /to be continued/