Do you know how to play the violin, asked the ”Musician Sasa” (”Muzikant Sasa”), as Ljubisa Bozic or Aleksandar Velimirovic, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) who is on the Ukrainian battlefield, presents himself on the Russian social network VKontakte.
A native of Banja Luka, previously convicted and arrested several times in BiH, who officially changed his identity at the police in Banja Luka, alludes with his violin to belonging to the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, named after the 19th-century composer, answering the question why he is called the Musician.
Since November 14th, on the Russian social network Vkontakte, he has been publishing photos in military uniforms, videos showing masked people using weapons, as well as packages with food and other supplies that he says are intended for the Russian army in Ukraine.
In an interview with Radio Free Europe, he says: “I will return to Bosnia when there is no border between us”, i.e. when everything is “organized in Russian way“.
According to Radio Free Europe‘s information from two security sources, he went to Ukraine in the spring of 2022. And according to his own statement, Bozic / Velimirovic has been on the Ukrainian front or in Russia for a year already. Joining foreign armies is punishable in BiH.
Bozic has long been known to police agencies in BiH. He had the first problem with the law in 2010. He was sentenced to two months in prison for the kidnapping and served his sentence.
Bozic, later Velimirovic, had another problem in June 2016, when he was arrested for insulting Muslim believers in front of a mosque in Banja Luka. Bozic, the media reported, was fined 200 BAM (100 euros) as a misdemeanor, and Nezavisne novine reported that he apologized for the outburst through this media. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republika Srpska (RS)could not provide more details about this case either, because it is a “misdemeanor report” and in that case, they are not obliged to provide more information.
The third time he was arrested, he was linked to the war in Ukraine. He was arrested at Sarajevo Airport on September 20th, 2020 by the BiH Border Police, after which he was handed over to the jurisdiction of the Judicial Police of the RS, Radio Slobodna Evropa reports.
