People of Tuzla did not attack anyone on May 15, '92; they defended their city and freedom

24 years have passed since that May 15 when members of the MUP of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Territorial Defense of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina defeated units of the former JNA and Serbian paramilitary forces at Brčanska Malta in Tuzla, reports the Patria news agency.  

Retreating from the Husinska buna barracks, they attempted to capture Tuzla on May 15, 1992.

Selim Bešlagić, the wartime mayor and president of the Crisis Staff of Tuzla, said in one interview that the people of Tuzla responded to the attack by units of the former JNA and Serbian paramilitary formations with a defense of the city.

It was a day, Bešlagić recalled, when the people of Tuzla showed they were ready to defend their freedom.  

-Tuzla defended itself on May 15. The essence is that 49 soldiers died then, but the RS claims far more died. They politicize the entire case, Bešlagić said among other things, asking whether someone in Tuzla is hiding the soldiers they sent to the battlefield in Vukovar.

In Belgrade, a court trial was conducted for the attack on the JNA column in 1992, in which Ilija Jurišić, as a member of the MUP of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was charged with ordering the attack on the column.

In March 2016, after a multi-year trial and time spent in a Belgrade prison, followed by release to defend himself from freedom, Jurišić was finally acquitted.

He was arrested on May 14, 2007, at Belgrade's „Nikola Tesla“ airport.

The Appellate Court in Belgrade overturned on October 11, 2010, the first-instance verdict sentencing Jurišić to 12 years in prison. After that, in 2013, Jurišić was again sentenced to 12 years in prison.

In April 2015, the Appellate Court, accepting the defense's appeals, decided to open the main trial itself and present key evidence on the basis of which the acquittal was rendered.

Colonel Dubajić confirmed he voluntarily left the barracks with the column 

Former commander of the former JNA barracks in Tuzla, Colonel Mile Dubajić, also testified at Ilija Jurišić's trial. Dubajić admitted that the evacuation of the barracks on May 15, 1992, was not agreed upon, but was his personal decision.

That there was no agreement between the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the former JNA on the peaceful departure from the barracks was also confirmed by a document from the Ministry of Defense of Serbia.

May 15 commemorated 

The all-day event marking May 15 in Tuzla began today at 12:00, when tribute was paid to the martyrs and fallen soldiers at the memorial site at Brčanska Malta. After that, flowers were laid at the memorial sites at Slana Banja.

A ceremonial procession of former members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the MUP, and citizens of Tuzla was organized again this year on the route Brčanska Malta – Slana Banja. In the congress hall of the ”Mellain” hotel, a ceremonial session of the City Council was held, followed by a gathering of veteran population members at Pannonica.