Who Gave the Order: During the Investigation at the BiH Ministry of Defense, Attempts Were Made to Remove Correspondence of Three Bosniak Officers

BiH Defense Minister Marina Pendeš announced about 15 days ago that she would have a report by February 2 on the engagement of the BiH Armed Forces in marking the unconstitutional Day of Republika Srpska on January 9 in Banja Luka, and that after receiving it, she would inform the public about everything.

The deadline for the Chief of the Joint Staff of the BiH Armed Forces, Anto Jeleč, whom she tasked with conducting the investigation, to submit the report expires tomorrow, Patria reports.

From the very start, when Pendeš announced that it would be checked whether and who broke the chain of command, it was clear that the investigation was being undermined.

On the principle of the judge being both the plaintiff and the judge, Pendeš, along political lines, appointed General Jeleč as the head of the team and investigation, who himself is an active participant in disrupting the chain of command and political games.

On Sunday, January 8, at 12:30 PM, he was informed that Deputy Minister Sead Jusić ordered that members of the BiH Armed Forces must not be stationed in Banja Luka on January 9, but he ignored both the oral and written order that arrived at the Joint Staff later that evening.

Jeleč knowingly ignored this order, so that on January 9, the Chairman of the BiH Presidency, Mladen Ivanić, lined up armed members of the BiH Armed Forces on Krajina Square in Banja Luka.

Thus, in the end, Jeleč definitively abused his official position and authority, and broke the already disrupted chain of command by others, starting from the BiH Presidency, through Deputy Jusić, to the commander of the Third Infantry (Republika Srpska) Regiment.

The investigation so far, conducted by the team Jeleč appointed (3 Bosniaks, 2 Serbs, 1 Croat), has unequivocally shown, based on complete documentation, that January 8 and 9 were politically orchestrated.

Vertically, all documentation from the highest to the lowest in the hierarchy showed that approvals for deploying members of the Third Regiment of the BiH Armed Forces from the barracks to the streets of Banja Luka were given by Serbian generals/officers.

Only three Bosniak officers gave their opinion that these were unconstitutional and illegal activities, subject to criminal prosecution.

It was precisely their correspondence with superiors, in which they warned about violations of the Constitution, decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH, the Law on Defense and the BiH Armed Forces, and the Criminal Code, that attempts were made in recent days to remove, along with the trace of the last order that halted all activities for January 9, which was supposed to absolve Jeleč of responsibility.

The remaining documentation, starting from the request of the RS Government, through Ivanić's and then Jusić's signature and the order that was further passed down the hierarchy, proved that these were unconstitutional and illegal activities.

The last two days have been turbulent at the Ministry of Defense and the Joint Staff. Attempts are being made to remove some evidence, the report is being finished, then returned for revision, and so on in a circle. What will the final report, about which Pendeš announced the public would be informed, look like?

The truth about the events related to January 9 is already known, the actors are there, evidence of unconstitutional and illegal actions exists, it is only a question of whether politics will stop everything.

Serbian Generals in Borik

Standing side by side "in formation" dressed in ceremonial uniforms at the central ceremony in the Borik hall on the occasion of marking the unconstitutional Day of RS on January 9 were the Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff, General Mirko Tepšić, the Commander of the Operational Command, General Dragan Vuković, the Commander of the 6th Infantry Brigade, General Radovan Ilić, and the Deputy Commander of the Support Command of the BiH Armed Forces for Resources, General Gojko Knežević.

Along with the four Serbian generals, Colonels Nebojša Janković and Milorad Krajšumović were also present at the ceremony, and at the formation of the Third Regiment, Colonel Savo Vidaković. It will be interesting to see in the report whether any of them will be sanctioned, given that they are high-ranking officers who ignored the decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH. They should also answer the question of whose order they were following on the evening of January 9 to be in the Borik hall and who approved these activities for them.