Legalization of the Siege: How the BiH Prosecutor's Office Gives a Voice to JNA Colonels - When the Aggressor Becomes a Witness

By: Amina Čorbo-Zećo

A scene unfolded in the BiH courtroom that is difficult to even imagine, let alone accept. Miloslav Gagović, a high-ranking JNA officer, a man who already stood in defense of war criminals Mladić and Karadžić in The Hague, is taking the witness stand (via video link from Podgorica) in the case of 'Ejup Ganić and others'.

And what does he say before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina? That Sarajevo was blocked from within. That, presumably, the people of Sarajevo locked themselves in, shelled themselves, starved themselves, and killed themselves. Cynicism of such magnitude can only be found in the history of monstrous lies, and in which the BiH Prosecutor's Office, led by Chief Prosecutor Milanko Kajganić, actively participates.

And while he says this, the acting prosecutor Mladen Vukojičić addresses him as – 'Colonel'.

Incidentally, even in the indictment itself, a footnote states that the testimony of this witness contradicts other evidence, but nevertheless, the Court hears him, and the prosecutor considers it relevant.

And so, a 'colonel' of those who killed children in bread lines became a witness against those who defended us. A colonel of those who shelled Markale. A colonel of the army that held Sarajevo under lock and key for four years, turning it into the largest open-air prison in modern Europe.

This is not just a disgrace; it is institutional betrayal. Before our courts, with the signature of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the aggressor gets a microphone and space to turn the victim into the perpetrator. To turn the siege into a 'self-blockade'. To turn crimes into 'incidents'. To turn history into a cheap caricature.

And I ask myself – how long? How long will we watch as truth is erased in the name of law, as a new aggression is carried out in the name of justice – this time against memory, against facts, against our dead? If Sarajevo locked itself in, then they killed themselves at Markale, then children in Dobrinja were hit by snipers themselves, then families who disappeared overnight simply – disappeared.

What happened in the BiH courtroom is not just an insult. It is a dangerous message. A message that the siege of Sarajevo can be relativized. That crimes can be rewritten. That the voice of the aggressor can be raised above the voice of the victim. And it can, because we remind you that there is not a single indictment for the SIEGE OF SARAJEVO.

And that is the line. If we allow this, if we remain silent, then we have agreed to have 1992-1995 repeated on paper, and tomorrow perhaps on the streets.

Sarajevo never blockaded itself. Sarajevo was a city under siege, a city under fire, a city under death. And neither Gagović, nor his generals, nor his colonels, nor even the prosecutors who kiss their hands, will change that!
But the silence of Sarajevo's public hurts, it hurts more than their lies!