Independent police inspector from Bijelo Polje Vladan Drasković said yesterday that on October 24th of the year before last, he was informed by his colleague from Nova Moračanin and citizens that a man with a rifle was moving around the area of the villages of Pisana Jela, Sokolac and the hamlet of Zaboj, who turned out to be Alija Balijagić.
He said this yesterday in the Basic Court in Bijelo Polje, during the continuation of the trial of police officers. Cemal Ljuci (49) and Borivoj Bulatović (60), due to multiple work failures in the treatment of Balijagić, before he committed the double murder.
Balijagić killed his brother and sister in Sokolac on October 25th around 21 pm. Jovana i Milenka Madžgalj, for which he was sentenced to 40 years in prison by the High Court.
Drašković explained that he informed his boss Ljuca immediately after his colleague Moračanin confirmed to him that the face in the photograph, which he forwarded to relatives who noticed him, was Balijagić.
"Among other things, I mentioned to Ljuca that it was most likely Alija Balijagić. After the conversation, I informed Moračanin about it, and that all happened on the same day, October 24, after 17 p.m.," said Drašković, adding that Ljuca dictated the phone number that Balijagić allegedly left for the locals.
He explained that he had spoken to Ljuc several times that evening, who told him that he had called that number, but that it had been disconnected.
The inspector explained that before noon, that is, before 12 noon, on that October 25th, he made an urgent phone call to inform the assistant chief. Veselin Novovic (Ljuca did not answer the calls) that Balijagić was moving through the hamlet of Zaboj, after the local woman who reported the case confirmed to him, based on the photo, that it was Balijagić.
"I quickly got in touch with Ljuca, who said that Novović had already informed him and that he would undertake a search for that person. I entered my findings from 24 and 25 October 2024 in electronic form immediately after I learned about them, and this was available, I assume, to the managers, but also to the service coordinator," said Drašković.
In response to Ljuca's questions, Drašković said that he remembered that on October 24th, he told him to inform his colleagues Šutović and Šekularc, who were in the field, about the information about Balijagić, which he did.
"Ljuca asked me to explain where the patrol was located in relation to where Balijagić was located and explained that the patrol was located at Đapan's grave, and I said that it was located at Sokolac, which is completely on the other side."
However, he could not remember, but did not dispute Ljuca's claims that he had told him on that occasion that they suspected that Balijagić, according to operational information, was hiding at night to sleep at his friend's house. Rizvan Kolić.
Drašković, responding to a question from the representative of the injured family, Miladin Joksimović, said that he did not know whether, after exchanging the photo with his colleague Moračanin and confirming that it was Balijagić, an organizational meeting was held at the Bijelo Polje Military District with a plan for locating or arresting him.
When asked by a representative of the injured party's family, Velibor Madžgalj, the police officer said that he did not know whether the police reacted and sent a patrol after the reports and went to the field in the morning hours, before the fatal event that day.
Madžgalj then exclaimed: "So they knew everything and let him go."
If I had known...
Not even ten minutes had passed since at 11 a.m. on October 24th of the year before last, a neighbor Marko Brajković in Sokolac, the granddaughter of DB called and warned them not to open the door because an armed and dangerous outlaw had appeared, introducing himself as "hunter Drašković", when a man with a rifle on his shoulders knocked on the door, who matched the description and introduced himself as that man.
As he explained, the Brajkovićs bordered the now deceased Madžgaljas, who were killed that evening.
He said that Marko's wife was his Slobodanka said that she couldn't enter the house because a neighbor was there cutting her husband Marko's hair, after which he sat in front of the house on the meadow.
Sinđić said that after Slobodanka asked him to sit in front, he too sat down.
After asking if the gun was loaded, the man went to show him, causing one bullet to fall to the ground, while two remained in the barrel.
"As I bent down and picked up the bullet, he pointed the rifle at my chest at close range. I told him why are you pointing that barrel at me and cursed," said Sinđić, adding that he left and called the police around noon, or fifteen minutes later, who arrived in Sokolac an hour and a half later.
Sinđić pointed out that he learned from the police that it was Balijagić, after the officers showed him a photo, but that none of the six officers told him that he was a dangerous man or to inform the neighbors.
"If I had known, I would have told my brother and all the neighbors first. In Sokolac, at the moment the murder happened, there were about 20 houses open"...
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