Anniversary of the Legitimate Military Battle in Dobrovoljačka

(Patria) - Today marks the 29th anniversary of the battle in the former Dobrovoljačka Street in Sarajevo. At that time, during the withdrawal of JNA members from the barracks on Bistrik, a firefight occurred between the defenders of Sarajevo and the Yugoslav People's Army.

In that battle, which the Hague Tribunal designated as a legitimate military operation, seven JNA members were killed.

The exit of the JNA column from Sarajevo was previously agreed upon in exchange for the release of the then-President of the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegović, who had been kidnapped and captured a day earlier at Sarajevo Airport.

Dobrovoljačka – the street now called Hamdije Kreševljakovića – remains for some a symbol of suffering, and for others a symbol of defense, because May 3, 1992, was crucial for the defense of Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The convoy of JNA vehicles, under the escort of UNPROFOR units, set out from the command of the Second Military District on Bistrik towards Lukavica, but was stopped at Drvenija, on Hamdije Kreševljakovića Street.

That day, according to the testimony of General Milutin Kukanjac, then commander of the Second Military District of the JNA in the "Dobrovoljačka" case, six JNA members were killed, while the convoy contained a total of 261 JNA members.

An investigation by the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina established that during the attack, seven people were killed and 14 wounded, after they were incapacitated for combat. In 2012, the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina determined that former member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ejup Ganić, generals of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Jovan Divjak, Hasan Efendić, and others who were linked to the attack on the JNA column were not responsible for war crimes against JNA members in the column attacked in Dobrovoljačka Street on May 3, 1992.