Foundation for Determining Truth in Krajina

The Foundation aims at offering support and financial assistance to families of former members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ARBiH, who are accused of war crimes, as well as obtaining documents and helping the state bodies determine the truth.

“Experts in the field of war crimes will be engaged in the extensive work on collecting documentation on crimes. Co-operation with the Law Faculty in Bihac has already been agreed upon. We are hoping that authorities will provide adequate support to our work aimed at achieving the set goals,” says Besim Dizdaric, President of the Managing Board of the Foundation for determining the truth about murders of civilians and prisoners of war from the Bosanska Krajina region.

Mirsad Topcagic, Minister of Soldiers and Disabled War Veterans with the Government of Una-Sana Canton, announced that he would provide strong support to the Foundation in obtaining documents related to crimes committed in the Bosanska Krajina region, particularly due to the disproportion between the gravity of the crimes and the number of people who have been processed for committing them, and the inadequate criminal and legal sanctions.

“We are supporting the work of investigative and all other bodies on determining responsibility for committed crimes, but, on the other hand, we cannot allow those processes to put those people’s families into a difficult economic and financial situation,” Topcagic said.

According to him, the Foundation’s primary goal is to collect documentation and other materials, which will help the state bodies and provide a form of support to these institutions in order to help them process all crimes.

“Today we can see a disproportion between the gravity of the committed crimes and the number of people, who have been processed for committing them. The arrest of former members of ARBiH, who are charged with certain crimes, represents the most recent example of this allegation. We support the efforts to investigate everyone’s responsibility but 1,300 civilians were killed in Kozarac. Only one man has been tried for that crime. We cannot understand the discrepancy,” Topcagic said.

The Assembly of Una-Sana Canton determined the need for establishment of the Foundation, so it is now expected to make a decision on financial support to the Foundation. Admir Hadzipasic, Chairman of the Una-Sana Cantonal Assembly, said that he expected the Una-Sana Cantonal Government to make a budget revision and allocate KM 200,000 for this purpose. 

“We consider that there can only be one truth. This is the direction in which the Assembly is going. This is why it has supported the establishment of the Foundation. I expect that the Foundation will justify its existence in the upcoming period, primarily by finding out the truth about the happenings that took place in this area,” Hadzipasic said.