Capture of Alija Izetbegović was planned: Gagović's testimony reveals JNA's role in events of May 2nd and 3rd, 1992.

By: Amina Čorbo-Zećo

Milosav Gagović, a high-ranking JNA officer, who served as Deputy Commander of the 4th Corps, and later became Commander on May 11th, testified today as a witness for the BiH Prosecutor's Office in the case of 'Ejup Ganić and others', commonly known as the Dobrovoljačka case.

He had previously testified as a defense witness for Ratko Mladić, Radovan Karadžić, and Dragomir Milošević in The Hague! Gagović testified via video link from Podgorica; he did not come to Sarajevo. Prosecutor Mladen Vukojičić addressed him as Colonel, until an objection from attorney Mirna Avdibegović.

The BiH Court, after accepting the objection, then recognized him only as a witness, which is what he actually is!

He recounted how, from April 1st, he was transferred from the Second Military District to Lukavica, because the Fifth Corps arrived at Bistrik after being evacuated from Croatia. What was most interesting today was the admission by a high-ranking JNA officer that Alija Izetbegović was captured on May 2nd, 1992.

In direct examination by prosecutor Vukojičić, witness Gagović attempted to claim that Alija Izetbegović was saved, because no one came for him on May 2nd after the plane landed at Sarajevo airport. However, he later confirmed to attorney Lejla Čović that there was a plan by high-ranking officers to capture Alija Izetbegović and take him to the barracks in Lukavica, in order to use him as a hostage for the relocation of JNA personnel and materiel.

Čović cited his statement given in 1994 and 1998, in which he says that the conspiracy was devised by him, Đurđevac, and Magazin (airport commander) regarding the CAPTURE of Alija Izetbegović.

He confirmed that he had said so, and Alija Izetbegović slept in his office in Lukavica. An armed military policeman was stationed outside. He could not explain why the JNA – a foreign army – controlled Sarajevo Airport in a sovereign, internationally recognized state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We remind you that the BiH Prosecutor's Office, in this indictment, claims that Alija Izetbegović was a free man on May 2nd and 3rd, 1992, and that the attack on the JNA column was not a legitimate military target, despite the fact that The Hague, as well as courts in London and Vienna, have established this.

He confirmed today multiple times that Sarajevo had been under artillery attack since April, but he says it was never from the JNA, but from the Serb territorial defense.

He confirmed that there was heavy weaponry around Sarajevo, as well as in Lukavica at Bijelo Polje, and that the range of this weaponry was 5000 meters. Responding to the question of whether a tank from Lukavica shelled the Waterworks at Mojmilo, Gagković stated that the JNA was securing the waterworks!?

As during his testimony in The Hague when he defended Mladić and Karadžić, as well as Milošević, he claimed that Sarajevo was not surrounded from the outside, but from the inside.

„Well, yes. No one could leave Sarajevo,” said Gaković.

He confirmed that he led the operations to seize weapons from the territorial defense, and that the weapons were sent to Pančevo! Specifically, regarding the capture of Alija Izetbegović, this witness stated that Alija, as well as the rest of the delegation, were treated as if they were not captured, except for Dinči Imamović.

„Dinče was treated like a prisoner. Zlatko Lagumdžija can also tell you about it; he was not a member of the delegation but was traveling as an opposition representative,” said Gaković.

Incidentally, he tried to introduce a new claim today, which he had never mentioned before, that Ejup Ganić told Kukanjac that he could not guarantee safe passage for the column if Alija Izetbegović was not in the column.
At that time, there was no communication because the phone lines were not working, and the witness himself said that he was the only one with a connection in Lukavica. After they left Lukavica towards Bistrik, Gagović left Colm Doyle, Lord Carrington's envoy, in the barracks, pointing a pistol at him.

“Yes, I pointed a pistol because he wouldn't establish a connection with General MacKenzie for me. If you won't do it willingly, you'll do it by force!”, said Gagović.

The video link with Podgorica was conducted via a regular ZOOM connection (with multiple interruptions), so the defense questioned its legality. The trial was adjourned because the Court in Podgorica closes at 3 PM, and the continuation of this witness's examination is scheduled for September 10th.