Victims of Dobrovoljacka Attack Frustrated by Silence

Twenty-four years since a convoy of the Yugoslav National Army, JNA, came under attack in Dobrovoljacka Street in Sarajevo, investigative bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia have yet to bring any charges.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina has confirmed that while a Dobrovoljacka case still exists, no further action is being undertaken.

Serbia’s War Crimes Prosecution says it earlier referred part of its investigation to the investigative bodies in Bosnia.

Retired Bosnian Army general Jovan Divjak meanwhile said it is worrying that Serbia’s investigative bodies do not respect Bosnian court decisions to discontinue investigations into him in connection with the Sarajevo attack.

He confirmed that Bosnia’s State Prosecution discontinued the investigation into him more than four years ago.

In spite of that, however, he says he was detained for more than two hours at the airport on a recent visit to Switzerland.

“I have to travel to America. I will be traveling via Istanbul so they do not hold me [there],” Divjak said.

Families of victims of the attack on the JNA convoy and some institutions in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska, have criticised the State Prosecution for scrapping the investigation into Divijak and more than ten political and military officials involved in the Bosnian war.

A representative of the victims’ families says they have not received any response to their objections to the discontinuation of the investigation.

“The higher [judicial] instances… are supposed to solve this issue,” Milan Romanic, a representative of some of the victims’ families, said.

“Those are the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and their chief, Goran Salihovic. You should ask them whether they want to do their jobs or not. If they don’t, they should return their salaries. Why are they sitting in those offices?” he asked.

According to the few known facts, the JNA convoy was withdrawing to a barracks in Lukavica via Dobrovoljacka Street in Sarajevo on May 3, 1992, when it came under fire.

Alija Izetbegovic, then president of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was in the first armoured transporter in the middle of the convoy.

JNA members had seized him at Sarajevo airport a day before. According to a previous agreement, the Bosnian President was supposed to be released once the convoy had passed through the city safely.

The convoy was intercepted in the afternoon and a number of soldiers killed. The number of victims is unclear. Some sources indicate 42 people were killed while others say only five.

Besides media reports, no other data on the investigation has been made available in Serbia or Bosnia for years.

The issue became live once again following the arrest in London of Ejup Ganic, a wartime member of the Bosnian Presidency, six years ago.

Belgrade demanded his extradition to Serbia to face trial for war crimes in connection to the attack on the JNA convoy. A London court refused to extradite him, however.

Two investigations against Ganic – one at the Hague war crimes tribunal, ICTY, – concluded that there were no grounds for his criminal prosecution.

Divjak was arrested in Vienna a year later and similarly faced with a Serbian extradition demand. A Vienna court rejected Serbia’s request for Divjak as well.

In mid-January 2012. Bosnia’s State Prosecution discontinued all further investigations into Ganic, Divjak and about ten other former military and political officials.

“The investigation into violation of laws and customs of war during the attack on a JNA convoy in Dobrovoljacka Street on May 3, 1992 is hereby discontinued because it has been determined that your actions did not represent a crime,” the State Prosecution ruling sent to Divjak reads.

As regards the killings and beatings that occurred during the attack on the convoy, it was determined that Divjak’s actions did not represent a crime there, either, because of a lack of evidence.

The State Prosecution also said it has no evidence against Divjak about the beating of prisoners in the Kosevo hospital, at FIS premises, the Central Prison and the Territorial Defence Headquarters.

Despite the Bosnian State Prosecution’s decision – and the decision of the Vienna Court – Divjak still faces travel problems.

“The arrest warrant issued by the Prosecution of Serbia is still [active] on border crossings,” he said.

“State Interpol agencies cooperate directly with other Interpol branches, not respecting court rulings,” Divjak added.

Serbia’s War Crimes Prosecution says it started an investigation into the Dobrovoljacka case but then partially referred it to the State Prosecution of Bosnia on the basis of legal provisions and cooperation protocols.

Bosnian State Prosecution officials decline to say anything more on the investigation.

“It has been 90 per cent completed, or 99 per cent,” Divjak insists.

“The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina have released the military and state authorities from responsibility and said, somewhere in the conclusion, that it is looking for perpetrators,” he added.

“The issue should be brought to a close for the sake of truth, justice and reconciliation.”