Witnesses on Zubac: We Couldn't Do It Alone; It Would Have Been Enough If SIPA Special Forces Had Shown Up

In the continuation of the trial of Goran Zubac accused of negligent work in office for failing to respond to the events of February 7 as director of the State Investigation and Protection Agency, when the building of the BiH Presidency was set on fire during mass protests, five employees of the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies at the Court of BiH testified, writes the BiH news agency Patria.

The witnesses were Vine Baškarad, assistant commander of the Unit for Security of VIP Persons and Facilities of the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of BiH, Rade Radislav Janjetović, Ivica Bošnjak, Radenko Čvoro, and Semir Kavaz. These are individuals who were securing the BiH Presidency building during the demonstrations.

- I received an order at around 3 p.m. that day to go with my men to Musala Street and withstand the pressure of the demonstrators until help arrived. I did that. I held the line with my men as long as I could until the arrival of the FUP Special Unit, all the way until 6 p.m. - said Baškarad, as reported by klix.ba.

Radislav Jagnjetović pointed out that he noticed on the ground that the demonstrators were well-organized, with some throwing stones at police officers and others targeting surveillance cameras and windows of the BiH Presidency building.

Ivica Bošnjak, head of the Department for Security of Facilities of the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies in BiH, said he saw that the protests would escalate when the demonstrators managed to weaken the officers of the Ministry of Interior of Sarajevo Canton at the very start of the protests around 1 p.m.

- I immediately saw that they would head for the BiH Presidency and that we would not be able to defend the building. I asked for help from my superior Sead Šarić, assistant director of the Directorate, as well as from Himza Selimović, director of the Directorate, with whom I was in constant contact, but they only told me to be patient, that they were trying to establish contacts - Bošnjak stated, adding that he requested help from SIPA and FUP, but it did not arrive.

- It would have been enough for us if the SIPA special forces had just shown up; that would have created a psychological effect and everything would have calmed down - said Bošnjak.

Radinko Čvoro and Samir Kazaz stated in their testimony that it was impossible to defend the building with the personnel on the ground, even though all available forces were mobilized.

- The pressure on us was enormous, and there were radical demonstrators. We asked for help, but they only told us it was coming. We needed people with equipment, as well as people trained to control such situations - Čvoro emphasized.

The continuation of the trial in this case is scheduled for November 28, when three more witnesses of the BiH Prosecutor's Office will give their statements.