NO RULING FOR KILLING FOUR YOUNG SERBS IN SHELLING FROM FBiH FOR 32 YEARS

DOBOJ, MAY 1 /SRNA/ – Blago Blagojević today visited the grave of his 20-year-old daughter Daliborka and her fiancé, who are buried in the same grave at the Šušnjari city cemetery, as a shell prevented their scheduled wedding 32 years ago.

Blagojević recalled that on April 30, 1994, in the evening hours on the eve of Orthodox Easter, four young people were killed in Doboj and five were seriously wounded during shelling of the city centre from positions of the so-called Army of BiH, for which no one has been held accountable even after 32 years.

120-millimeter shell killed Daliborka Blagojević and her fiancé Nedeljko Tanasić on the spot, while Stojanka Jović, displaced from Maglaj, and Ljilja Vukosavović, displaced from Gračanica, later died in hospital from their injuries.

"For 32 years I have been dying with them from grief, but also from the pain that no one even mentions the young victims, and that those responsible are not prosecuted," Blagojević emphasized.

He said that on that tragic evening in Doboj, a single shell caused the highest number of civilian casualties in the Defensive-Patriotic War, adding that he is embittered that even after 32 years no judicial authority has called him to give a statement, let alone testify.

As a participant in the war events, he stressed that age and illness give him less and less hope that he will live to see those who ordered and carried out the massacre of Doboj's youth brought to justice.

He is particularly disappointed that, despite his numerous attempts, Nedeljko Tanasić - a refugee from Busovača and a member of the Doboj Brigade, has still not been granted the status of a fallen soldier, even though he was buried with military honours.

"Unfortunately, Nedeljko's late father, who died of grief, did not live to see this injustice corrected, and I fear that his mother Slavojka may not live to see it either," Blagojević said.

According to him, Slavojka returned to the Federation municipality of Busovača, from where they had been expelled, and lives on a disability allowance.

Blagojević said that, in order to preserve the memory of the four young victims from being forgotten, he recorded his testimony as part of a multimedia museum project initiated by the Republika Srpska Memorial Centre and supported by the city administration.

In the Park of National Heroes in Doboj, a plaque was installed in March 2000 commemorating 99 innocent victims and 399 wounded who suffered during unselected shelling of the city from positions of the so-called Army of BiH.

In January last year, the District Court Doboj acquitted former commander of the so-called Army of BiH Džemal Jukan of responsibility for allegedly ordering, on August 10, 1995, as commander of the 221st Mountain Brigade Gračanica, that anti-aircraft machine guns be used against convoy of buses traveling from Doboj toward Ozren.

On that occasion, a civilian was killed in one of the buses, and on the same day, during shelling of the village of Boljanić, one of the projectiles struck a woman who died at the scene from her injuries.

The District Prosecutor’s Office Doboj had previously conducted an investigation against eight individuals, identified as A. N., B. H., M. H., Š. A., S. Dž., H. I., A. M. and B. M. but according to a 2012 decision of the Court of BiH, the case was transferred to the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.

The suspects were charged, as commanders and staff members of military formations of the so-called Army of BiH, with planning and participating in decisions to order unselected artillery attacks on the urban core and civilian targets in Doboj and its surroundings, resulting in deaths, injuries, and significant damage to residential and other buildings.

The case was forwarded for review to the Court of BiH, which on January 10, 2012 transferred it to the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.

Although 13 years have passed since the case was taken over, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH previously stated that it is conducting an investigation into the shelling of Doboj during the war period from 1992 to 1995 and that the case remains "under investigation".

The Doboj Police Administration and the District Prosecutor's Office earlier informed SRNA that reports on crimes against humanity and war crimes against civilians related to the shelling of the braoder Doboj area, including high-ranking officers of the so-called Army of BiH, had been submitted to the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.

The Doboj Police Administration stated that on December 26, 1995, they filed criminal charges against nine individuals on suspicion of committing war crimes against civilians, and on November 13, 2001 submitted a supplementary report against one individual.

On March 30, 2012, an additional report was filed with the District Prosecutor's Office in Doboj against one individual on suspicion of committing crimes against humanity.

On December 15, 2017, Doboj Police Admimistratiom submitted another report to the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH against one individual on suspicion of committing the criminal offense of crimes against humanity.