Karamustafić claims: Three pieces of evidence confirm there was no assassination attempt on Sefer Halilović! Video

Three clear pieces of evidence I have obtained confirm the official version of the story that General Sefer Halilović's wife and her brother were not killed in an assassination attempt, but in the explosion of a shell that came from Serbian positions, says Suad Karamustafić, investigative journalist from Sarajevo, in an interview with the Bosnian news agency Patria (NAP).

He claims to have investigated this case in the past period and uncovered information, documents, and statements from three independent sources that almost certainly refute the claim that General Halilović's family died in a liquidation.   

- I spoke with two participants in the events of July 7, 1993, who do not know each other, but have essentially the same testimony. I also obtained a certified document from the Command of the 1st Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, signed by the late Mustafa Hajrulahović Talijan, which confirms that enemy fire was recorded that day, and that it could have hit General Halilović's apartment – says Karamustafić.

The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to media reports, has been conducting a renewed investigation into this case for some time, which the media have reported as being linked to the activities of the Special Purpose Unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, "Ševe". The investigation is unofficially led by prosecutor Oleg Čavka, and Prof. Dr. Berko Zečević from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Sarajevo has been engaged for expert examinations. The Halilović family believes there is sufficient evidence of an assassination attempt and demands a new investigation.

Karamustafić says that during his journalistic work and investigation of the case, which has been attracting great public attention for a long time, he has gained useful insights. He cites the content of the document signed by Talijan.

- The Daily Combat Report of the Command of the 1st Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina dated July 7, 1993, number 05/6-360, states, among other things, that "the enemy carried out stronger artillery actions from firing positions in Blagovac, Tukovi (Rajlovac), and Krivoglavići towards the wider area of Vis and Orlić, using 82 mm mortars, 105 mm and 155 mm howitzers. Several shells were fired in the direction of the city towards the wider area of Koševsko brdo" – says Karamustafić, quoting the document he has access to.  

The claims from this official document, compiled on the day of the explosion, contradict the "assassination theory" recently promoted by General Halilović and his son Semir. According to them, the aggressor's artillery did not operate in Sarajevo on that day.

The reliability of this document, Karamustafić reports, and the data within it, besides the signature of the then commander of the 1st Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mustafa Hajrulahović Talijan, is also confirmed by the statement of Asim Delić, who was the assistant duty officer of the late Fahra Šarić of the 1st Corps that day. Karamustafić spoke with him in Sarajevo and recorded a video statement which you can watch here

Delić says in the recording:

"During the controversial events, which Sefer Halilović and his son Semir are writing about, shells were flying from the Tukovi firing positions over elevation 850 on Žuč. As the assistant duty officer, I received a report from the observation post at elevation 850 that six shells had flown over them. After that, I received a report from the Command of the 1st Glorious Brigade from Velešići that four shells had fallen, two in the Velešići area, and two on Koševsko brdo. I was 'missing' two shells that were registered at elevation 850, but soon the duty officer Šarić, who returned to the building after being at home, said that two shells had fallen on Ciglane."

In addition to confirming the documented data that enemy large-caliber weapons were active that day, Delić says that one of the two howitzer shells that flew over the positions on Žuč and landed in Ciglane was fatal for Semir's mother, Mediha, and her brother.

- Delić proves this very simply: with a straight line drawn from the direction of the VRS artillery position at Tukovi towards elevation 850. Its extension, which indicates the shells flying over the positions on Žuč, where they were observed and recorded in the logbook of the observation post there, leads towards Ciglane, where Halilović's apartment is located – says Karamustafić.

Map showing the trajectories of the shells according to Delić's testimony

Delić, Karamustafić states, decided to give this testimony to confirm the accuracy of the statement of Brigadier of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Vehbija Karić, who in an earlier statement given this year described the circumstances under which he arrived at the scene of the explosion and recalled the results of the investigation he conducted less than a month after the tragedy on Halilović's terrace.

Karić, he says, at Sefer Halilović's insistence that he conduct the investigation, determined through ballistic analysis that the explosion was caused by a shell fired from the direction of Rajlovac, and confirmed that he saw the pattern of shrapnel fragmentation on the walls at the scene, which unequivocally indicated the explosion of a howitzer projectile. A video of Karić's testimony, obtained by Karamustafić, can be viewed here.

"Sefer's goal was for me to look at it and that it would be enough for him if I told him. He trusted that I would not miss any ballistic or expert fact. (...) Based on the knowledge I had from ballistics, theory, and firing rules, I concluded that the shell came from the direction of Rajlovac. (...) I eliminated every other possibility. (...) In the fragmentation pattern of an artillery shell, 60 percent of the fragments go left and right, 20 percent go forward, and 20 percent go backward – this entire pattern was manifested on the wall. So, it had to have come, not been brought and placed in a planter, it flew from the direction of Rajlovac. I measured the azimuth, reversed it, used a number of other pieces of information, and came to a conclusion and wrote Sefer a report the next day," Karić said, recalling details of the investigation from early August '93. Karić adds that he concluded at the time that General Halilović was satisfied with the report.

Karamustafić notes that the document from the military archive, the video testimonies of the assistant duty officer of the Command of the 1st Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Asim Delić, and the artillery ballistics expert, Brigadier Vehbija Karić, apparently form a triangle teeming with important information that complements, confirms, and aligns with each other.

- By refuting the claims about the abstention of the aggressor's artillery from the urban area of Sarajevo, clearly determining the direction and trajectory of the shells, and the alignment of much of the data from various sources we encountered during our research, significantly shake several pillars of the theory that the death of the wife of the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Command of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sefer Halilović, and her brother was the result of an assassination attempt on the general, backed by the then state and military leadership of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. All of this calls into question the seriousness of the idea that we planted bombs ourselves and arranged assassinations of our own generals – says Karamustafić.