UNPROFOR guaranteed security: Prosecution witness Jakovljević shocked the courtroom - I do not recognize the Hague Tribunal!

By Amina Čorbo-Zećo

Via video link from Belgrade, Slobodan Jakovljević, assistant commander of the IV Corps for morale and information of the former JNA, testified before the Court of BiH today. What he did specifically, we did not find out even after three hours of testimony, because the witness refused to answer questions about his specific tasks and job description.

At the end, attorney Mirna Avdibegović very precisely asked the witness if he did not want to answer this question because he feared criminal prosecution, but Jakovljević maintained his answer 'I do not want to answer such questions'. He also did not want to answer whether this was the reason he did not come to Sarajevo to testify, but is doing so via video link, but he did say that he was never questioned as a suspect for war crimes.

Very logically, because it is known to everyone that there is not a single indictment from the BiH Prosecutor's Office for the siege of Sarajevo, and Jakovljević himself could say a lot about it. Otherwise, Jakovljević was proposed as a witness in the case of Ejup Ganić and others, better known as Dobrovoljačka, by the BiH Prosecutor's Office, which, we remind you, represents the thesis that Alija Izetbegović was a free man on May 2 and 3, 1992, and that the JNA column in Dobrovoljačka was not a legitimate military target.

Jakovljević spoke about these circumstances today. Answering the questions of prosecutor Mladen Vukojičić, Jakovljević spoke about the events during March, April, and May 1992. At that time, he was in Lukavica at the Slobodan Princip Seljo Barracks, but like previous witnesses, he was not aware that the JNA was firing on Sarajevo, nor that heavy weapons were positioned around Sarajevo, most of which arrived in BiH after the JNA withdrew from Slovenia and Croatia.

Jakovljević confirmed that he was aware that the JNA was taking weapons from the TO BiH, but he claims - it was not done by force!

Otherwise, he said that on May 2, he saw Alija Izetbegović arrive at the barracks in Lukavica, and repeated that Alija was brought to Lukavica for his safety!

Also, this witness stated that by order of Gagović, he formed a column from Lukavica that headed to Bistrik to the command of the Second Military District for evacuation. He was in a vehicle with UNPROFOR General Lewis MacKenzie.

“When we arrived at Bistrik, we went to Kukanjac's office where the peaceful withdrawal of the JNA was agreed upon. Jusuf Pušina was also there, to whom Alija turned and asked if a safe exit for the column was ensured,” said Jakovljević.

Otherwise, during cross-examination, lawyer Senad Pizović asked the witness why he did not mention Pušina and some 'security' in his statement given on June 1, 1995, and asked the witness to say when his memory was better, three years after the event or 33 years later.

“This is some subsequent memory now,” said Jakovljević.

However, what he explicitly stated was that UNPROFOR was the guarantor of security, and he told attorney Avdibegović that they would not have agreed to the deal if UNPROFOR had not been there.

What particularly interested Judge Darko Samardžić was the fact that the JNA, and later the Army of Yugoslavia, kept Sarajevo Airport under control, i.e., whether it was usual for the army to control civilian facilities.

“The army does nothing without orders,” Jakovljević will say.

However, we did not get an answer as to who was ordering the then JNA, as a foreign army in the independent state of BiH.

Simply, the witness avoided answering questions, although he had been in the JNA since 1968, and had also stayed in Sarajevo since then.

Jakovljević admitted that he was mostly at Corps briefings, but he was not aware of the plans to occupy eastern Bosnia, even though the 216th Brigade was under the command of the IV Corps.

This witness also said today that he does not recognize the verdicts of the Hague Tribunal, especially for 'his' commanders of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps!?

What also 'rang' in the courtroom was Jakovljević's claim that the JNA never used force anywhere!

The trial in this case continues next Wednesday, October 15.