The 'Dobrovoljačka' Case: Shelling of Sarajevo - Prosecution Without Indictment, Witnesses Without Memory

By: Amina Čorbo-Zećo

After a full seven months, the trial in the case of Ejup Ganić and others, better known as "Dobrovoljačka," continued today before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Court previously issued a decision to separate the proceedings against Hasan Efendić and Mahir Žiška due to their health conditions, and the proceedings against them will be conducted separately.

Although a significant amount of time has passed since the trial began, the old practice continued in this session. Prosecution witness Gordan Vuković from Foča, like previous witnesses, could not recall anything about the events in Sarajevo until the decisive moment in May 1992, when the incident in Dobrovoljačka Street occurred.

Gordan Vuković told prosecutor Mladen Vukoječić that he arrived as a contracted soldier at the Viktor Bubanj barracks in January 1992 and patrolled Sarajevo with a crew in an armored personnel carrier (BOV), but he could not answer defense questions about whether he knew about the shelling of Sarajevo in April 1992, the fighting and actions in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or the fortifications and tanks around Sarajevo...

To all these questions, the witness answered that he did not know and had not heard!

However, he later stated that he was healthy during that period and could see and hear well, but somehow, he did not notice anything that happened until May.

Incidentally, during his testimony, Vuković spoke about the events of May 2nd and 3rd, stating that they left the Viktor Bubanj barracks in five armored vehicles towards the Command building of the Second Military District, and that they lost communication somewhere in Skenderija. Four vehicles returned to Viktor Bubanj because they received information that this barracks would also be attacked.

"We arrived in front of the Command building of the 2nd Military District, and the fighting was ongoing, so we joined the fight. I was next to a younger soldier, and later he asked me to switch with Perica Nović. As soon as we switched, Nović was hit by a sniper," Vuković recounted.

Speaking further, he emphasized that the fighting stopped around 9 PM, and they entered the barracks where they watched the news with Senad Hadžifejzović, where they saw that 'Alija Izetbegović had arrived at Lukavica barracks,' and negotiations began regarding the evacuation of soldiers from the barracks.

"In the morning, we received information from our superiors that an agreement had been reached. We started preparing. We were waiting for trucks from Lukavica. Later, Alija Izetbegović, his daughter, and some people from his entourage arrived. They were with Kukanjac for about half an hour, and then the news arrived that Alija and Kukanjac had reached an agreement," Vuković stated.

Lawyer Lejla Čović asked if Sarajevo Airport was under JNA control, to which the witness answered affirmatively, but maintained his stance that Alija Izetbegović voluntarily went to Lukavica and took his daughter with him. He also told her that 'Alija and Kukanjac reached an agreement in the Command of the Second Military District'.

Lawyer Senad Pizović presented this witness's statement from 1993, which Vuković gave at the Romanija-Birča CSB, where he said 'that they received information that an agreement had been reached on the evacuation of the army and the release of Alija,' and asked what the truth was - what was said today or what was said in 1993.

"What I said today," Vuković replied.

Then Pizović asked: 'Was your memory better in 1993 or today, 30 years after the events?'

"Today," Vuković said.

After that, Judge Darko Samardžić also asked the witness if, while watching Senad Hadžifejzović's news broadcast, he heard anything about Alija Izetbegović's status, and the witness said he could not comment.

Similarly, this witness, like those before him, suddenly remembered lilies and uniforms, although in their initial statements they spoke of armed civilians.

Thus, Vuković said about the attack on the convoy in 1993: "We heard the impacts of rifle bullets, we saw a large number of armed men without uniforms".

Today he spoke differently, saying they were attacked by armed men in uniforms and with lily symbols!?

Vuković also recounted how they took some of the prisoners to FIS and some to the Central Prison. He said he was assigned to go to the prison building, but he used the chaos to join the convoy going to FIS. On the way to FIS, he claims, he did not see the post office on fire! He even said that today, 30 years later, he has not heard and does not know about the actions of JNA members against Sarajevo!

To lawyer Mirna Avdibegović, Vuković said that he went from FIS to Lukavica, and that he was in Lukavica until 1993, after which he went to Foča. He could not specify where exactly he was on the Sarajevo front, claiming he was in Lukavica.

When asked by the presiding judge who told them to carry weapons during the evacuation from the barracks, after a long pause, which had accompanied every answer to the defense's questions earlier, he said that no one told them anything.

Vuković also explained their journey in vehicles on May 2nd towards Bistrik, and emphasized that they did not fire on the city, which contradicts the earlier testimony of Danilo Beribaka, who was in the BOV with Vuković and who himself stated before the Court of BiH that he personally opened fire towards Elektroprivreda BiH at Socijalno.

However, it is not surprising that witnesses forget about the shelling of Sarajevo, as the BiH Prosecutor's Office has not filed a single indictment for the siege of Sarajevo, and the witnesses who come simply follow that pattern. They do not shy away from lies either!

The trial in this case continues on July 9, 2025.