TRIAL OF GANIĆ - REFLECTION OF POSITION OF BiH JUDICIARY TOWARD CRIMES AGAINST SERBS

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 15 /SRNA/ – The institutions of Republika Srpska should continue insisting on the truth about the suffering of Serbs during the past war and demanding fair punishment for the attack on members of the Yugoslav People's Army /JNA/ in Dobrovoljačka Street, as well as for other crimes committed against the Serb people, said Acting Director of the Republic Center for Research of War, War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons Viktor Nuždić.

Nuždić told SRNA that the process before the Court of BiH against Ejup Ganić and others for the attack on the JNA convoy in Dobrovoljačka Street in May 1992 reflects the attitude of the BiH judiciary toward Serb war victims, given that it took three decades just to raise the indictment. "Everything in this case has long been clear and documented, as in many other cases for which the institutions of Republika Srpska have provided all the evidence to the Prosecutor’s Office. Why then did it take three decades for an indictment to be raised for this crime?" Nuždić stressed, commenting on today’s continuation of the trial before the Court of BiH of those accused of attacking the JNA convoy in Dobrovoljačka. He reminded that foreign prosecutor Jude Romano issued an order to suspend the investigation back in 2012, without any justified reason, and that only ten years later an indictment for this crime was finally filed. Nuždić emphasized that it is necessary to ask whether anyone has ever been held accountable, even disciplinarily, for halting the investigation, or at least attempted to explain the reasons or present the evidence on which that decision was based. "No one has answered these questions, and that is the essential problem of judicial institutions at the level of BiH. Prosecutors and judges act at their own discretion, shifting responsibility from one to another. While everyone keeps going around in circles – verdicts for crimes against Serbs are missing," Nuždić pointed out. He noted that, unfortunately, in other cases of crimes against Serbs in Sarajevo, there is a persistent effort to impose the narrative that they were committed by “Cacas”, “Ćelos”, and “Jukas”, while denying any involvement of the authorities of the so-called Republic of BiH. "This is a classic example of spin and manipulation, because all these paramilitary formations were merely executors of the official politics of the then Muslim leadership. It is therefore not surprising that 33 years after the crime we still have no judicial epilogue in this case," Nuždić said. He reminded that the Republic Center has documented, researched, and presented to the public its findings on the Dobrovoljačka Street crime in the book “Reconstruction of a Crime, Deconstruction of a Myth”, as well as in the Atlas of Crimes Against Serbs During the Defensive-Patriotic War. The trial of those accused of attacking the JNA convoy in Dobrovoljačka Street in May 1992 is scheduled to continue today before the Court of BiH. Among the accused are Ejup Ganić, a member of the Presidency of the so-called Republic of BiH; Zaim Backović, a member of the Operational Center of the Territorial Defense Staff; and Jusuf Pušina, Assistant Minister of Internal Affairs and Chief of Staff of the Ministry of the Interior. Also indicted for the attack on the convoy, killings, wounding, and abuse of JNA members and civilians are Hamid Bahto, Fikret Muslimović, Bakir Alispahić, Enes Bezdrob, and Ismet Dahić, who held high political, military, and police positions.