At the trial for the attack on the column of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) in Sarajevo, the witness of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) said that the Military Police from the “Viktor Bubanj” Barracks had been sent off for information about the attack on the Command in Bistrik.
Veselko Tamas said that he was serving his military service in the “Viktor Bubanj” Barracks and that he belonged to the armored platoon of the Military Police. He stated that there was an alert on May 2nd, 1992, and that they set off with five combat vehicles due to information about an attack on the Command in Bistrik.
He said that he was in an armored personnel carrier (BOV), in which there were seven crew members, and that their commander was Saban Hajdarevic. He said that on the way they heard through a call that two vehicles had returned to the barracks, and on the bridge near Skenderija they saw wounded members of the Zagreb Military Police of the JNA, as they were called.
Moreover, he explained that they loaded the wounded and took them to the hospital, and on the way, they heard that an ambush was being prepared for them at the “Evropa” hotel, so they came to the Command by a different route. There, as he stated, they deployed for defense and then retreated inside.
Tamas added that his commander, while the convoy was moving, said that something “fishy” was happening and that while driving around the park he went around the other vehicles, arriving at the head of the convoy.
“We stopped right behind Kukanjac and Izetbegovic… We came across barricades. Some in camouflage, berets, there was also Divjak, they were deployed,” Tamas recalled.
Furthermore, he said that a well-organized army approached them, and one of them pulled out a bazooka. He said that his commander intervened with Divjak not to fire the bazooka, and Divjak said not to shoot. According to witnesses, the soldier raised and lowered the bazooka three times.
“The commander only told us, if he fired, to cover our faces, so that they could recognize us later,” said the witness.
He added that when they set off, they no longer saw the rest of the column behind them.
Ejup Ganic, Zaim Backovic, Hamid Bahto, Hasan Efendic, Fikret Muslimovic, Jusuf Pusina, Bakir Alispahic, Enes Bezdrob, Ismet Dahic, and Mahir Zisko, who held high political, military and police positions, were accused of the attack on the convoy, killings, wounding and abuse of members of the JNA and civilians, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
