Lukač: SIPA was obliged to provide assistance to the DKPT

Before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, five new witnesses of the BiH Prosecutor's Office were heard in the case of Goran Zubac, director of SIPA, who is charged with negligent work in service and for refusing on February 7 to provide requested assistance to the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies, reports a reporter of the Patria news agency.

The first of the witnesses heard was Fahrudin Radončić, then Minister of Security of BiH, who said that as minister he had no operational authority, but that on that February 7 he spoke with certain directors of police agencies.

- I was called by Himzo Selimović, then director of the DKPT, Ćosić, the police commissioner of the MUP of the Sarajevo Canton, was not answering the phone at that time, just as in the case when I called him during the protests in front of the BiH Parliament building over the JMBG issue, and I spoke with Goran Zubac. Namely, Selimović called me to inform me that he could not get in touch with Zubac, and I told him then that I would speak with him. And I spoke with Zubac, who told me that his Special Unit was trained for the use of lethal force and that there was no legal basis to activate it - said Radončić, adding that he conveyed all of this to Selimović.

In his further testimony, he stated that as the then Minister of Security, he wanted to act as a legalist, but that at that time the demonstrations were politicized and even blamed on him, as if he had organized them to overthrow the constitutional and legal order of BiH.

- To be precise, up to the curb of the building, the issue of public order and peace is under the jurisdiction of the MUP of the Sarajevo Canton, and inside the building itself, under the DKPT. Simply put, a legal confusion was created between the DKPT and SIPA. Immediately after the protests over the JMBG, I requested an agreement on mutual assistance, and as far as I know, such an agreement between SIPA, the DKPT, and the MUP of the Sarajevo Canton was signed on June 10, 2014 - said Radončić.

Dragan Lukač, director of the FUP, gave an interesting testimony. On February 7, he engaged his Special Unit to disperse the demonstrators who had surrounded the building, while firefighters were prevented from accessing the building to extinguish the fire at the BiH Presidency building.

- According to the law on the DKPT and SIPA, the duty of police agencies, including the Border Police, is mutual assistance, and this is clearly stated in the law. I do not know if a dispatch was issued by the Directorate to SIPA, but the law says that SIPA was obliged to help the police officers on the ground. For agencies that directly answer to the Ministry of Security, no special agreements for mutual assistance are needed. Local police levels are a different matter - Lukač specified.

He further noted that he did not send the Special Unit on anyone's orders, and that he had an Emergency Action Plan. When asked by the prosecutor who should have provided assistance to the DKPT officers, Lukač said:

- SIPA should have provided assistance, because the regulations say so - said Lukač.

Dragiša Jokić, the lawyer for Goran Zubac, insisted that Lukač answer who would be responsible if any police officer had been killed in front of the BiH Presidency building, to which Lukač said:

- Who should be responsible? No one, because a police officer would have potentially died at their workplace doing their job - said Lukač.

Jokić also insisted that Lukač answer what the SIPA Special Unit is trained for and what equipment it has, to which Lukač said:

- No one asked them to disperse the demonstrators, but to help the police officers who were already injured, cars were burning, and we had a chaotic situation. As for equipment, even the FUP doesn't have enough, but we have to fight - added Lukač, specifying that the burning of the Presidency building is an act of terrorism and the overthrow of the constitutional order of the state, and that the Criminal Code of BiH describes this type of act in no other way than as terrorism - Lukač emphasized.

Incidentally, before the Court of BiH, Nedeljko Škrba, Dragan Golijanin, police officers of SIPA, and Blažan Trgić, a police officer of the DKPT, also testified.

Trgić confirmed that he sent a dispatch to SIPA requesting urgent assistance, and that he received feedback from Škrba who orally informed him that the SIPA Special Unit would not be engaged. Golijanin, on the other hand, said that as the head of Zubac's cabinet, he contacted him and that Zubac explained to him that there was no legal basis for engaging the SIPA Special Unit.

Judge Mirsad Strika scheduled the continuation of the trial of Goran Zubac for next Friday, November 7, when five new witnesses will be heard.