
Do you know how to play the violin, asked musician Saša, as Ljubiša Božić, or Aleksandar Velimirović, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina who is on the Ukrainian battlefield, introduces himself on the Russian social network VKontakte.
The Banjaluka resident, who has been convicted and arrested several times in BiH and who has officially changed his identity at the Banjaluka police station, uses his violin to allude to his membership of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, named after the 19th century composer, and to answer the question of why he is called the Musician.
Since 14 November, the Russian social network VKontakte has been publishing photographs in military uniforms, videos showing masked persons with weapons, as well as parcels of food and other supplies which it says are destined 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 “Russian”.
According to two RFE/RL security sources, he left for Ukraine in the spring of 2022. And by his own admission, Bozic/Velimirovic has already been on the Ukrainian front or in Russia for a year. Joining foreign armies is a criminal offence in BiH.
During the RFE/RL video, Velimirovic was wearing a mask the whole time. Only his eyes and military uniform were visible, with no clearly visible markings.
First the kidnappings, then the battlefield
In late November 2022, Radio Free Europe learned from two security sources in BiH that Ljubiša Božić was one of seven BiH citizens on the Ukrainian battlefield. No further information on his whereabouts was available.
Božić has long been known to police agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was sentenced to two months in prison for kidnapping and has served his sentence, RFE/RL has learned.
Who the victim of the kidnapping was and other details of the case could not be found because the conviction was expunged from the record, in accordance with the Criminal Code of the Republika Srpska.
A conviction for a prison sentence of up to one year is expunged from the criminal record when three years have elapsed from the date of the conviction – provided that the convicted person has not committed a new offence within that time.
The Basic Court in Gradiška said it could not provide details of the judgment because “it would be contrary to the Criminal Procedure Act”.
Bozic, later Velimirovic, had another problem in June 2016 when he was arrested for insulting Muslim worshippers outside a mosque in Banjaluka. According to media reports, Božić was fined 200 KM (€100) for the offence, and Nezavisne novine reported that he apologised for the outburst through this media outlet. The Ministry of the Interior of the Republika Srpska was also unable to provide more details on this case, as it is a “misdemeanour report” and they are not obliged to provide more information in this case.
The third time he was arrested, he was linked to the war in Ukraine. He was arrested by BiH border police at Sarajevo airport on 20 September 2020 and handed over to the RS judicial police.
The RS Judicial Police told RFE/RL that they were following the order of the Basic Court in Banja Luka to issue an arrest warrant for Ljubiša Božić.
“At that time, we arrested the person in question from the BiH Border Police, who had previously arrested him, and then, on the same day, we arrested him and handed him over to the Banjaluka Penitentiary Institution,” the police said.
After several inquiries, the Basic Court in Banja Luka reported that “they are unable to establish under which indictment the Judicial Police of the Republic of Srpska acted on 20 September 2020, because an indictment has been issued for the named person in several cases (kidnapping and misdemeanours).
Bozic was questioned on the same day by the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), which normally deals with cases of suspected participation in foreign theatres of war. After several enquiries, SIPA replied that Božić was questioned as a suspect and then handed over to the BiH Prosecutor’s Office for processing, together with a report.
The prosecutor’s office told RFE/RL that they had issued an order suspending the investigation in this case.
“The decision was taken because there was insufficient evidence that a crime had been committed. The evidence consisted mainly of circumstantial evidence and difficult-to-verify information on social media,” the reply said, adding that if new evidence or information was found, the investigation could be reopened.
Why did he change his identity?
The RFE/RL investigation led to the discovery that Ljubiša Božić had changed his name and surname in the last few years. Two security sources, whom the RFE/RL will not name due to the nature of their work, have confirmed this information.
Božić changed his name in the Banjaluka police on the basis of a decision of the Banjaluka City Administration.
The RFE/RL source stated that after leaving for Russia, Bozic, i.e. Aleksandar Velimirovic, signed a contract with the Wagner Group and that he hoped to obtain Russian citizenship. The RFE/RL could not officially confirm the information that Velimirovic is a member of Wagner.
A contact at Telegram, contacted after RFE/RL contacted him on the Russian social network Vkontakte, shared a photo of him in uniform with insignia that look like the symbols used by members of the Wagner Group, a mercenary group close to the Kremlin that has been added to the European sanctions list for its active participation in Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
The RFE/RL was unable to establish the time when the photo was taken, as well as the location, but noted that it had not been previously published on other sites or profiles.
The Ministry of the Interior of the Republika Srpska, as well as the Municipality of Banjaluka, were unable to provide us with information regarding the change of name.
Anyone can change their name, provided the conditions are met and there are no legal proceedings pending against them at the time of registration. Although Bozic had several previous run-ins with the law, this did not prevent him from leaving Bosnia and Herzegovina with a new identity.
The United Nations has drawn attention to the worrying recruitment of prisoners with a history of problems with the law or serving sentences in Russian correctional institutions for the Wagner paramilitary group.
In March 2023, the UN reported that it was deeply disturbed by reports of members of the so-called Wagner group visiting correctional facilities in various regions of Russia and offering pardons to prisoners who join the group and participate in the war in Ukraine.
The UN reported that the Wagner Group recruits both Russian and foreign nationals serving sentences in correctional institutions.
How did the RFE/RL find Bozic/Velimirovic?
From the first information that Bozic/Velimirovic was on the Ukrainian battlefield, in November 2022, to the first contact with RFE/RL on Telegram, in February 2023, almost three months passed.
During this time, Bozic did not use Facebook profiles with his photographs, nor profiles with the name Aleksandar Velimirovic. None of these profiles responded to RFE/RL messages.
Meanwhile, in January, Aleksandar from BiH, who is in Ukraine, was mentioned in a picture of Dejan Beric, a citizen of Serbia, who is in Russia and is being persecuted in Serbia for his participation in the war in Ukraine.
Beric says on the recording that Aleksandar, a citizen of BiH, changed his name and surname and came to Ukraine as a “spy”.
Beric also mentioned the name used on Vkontakte – Muzikant Gru (GRU – Russian military intelligence).
The RFE/RL profile check revealed that the date of birth on this profile was 24 July 1979, which is the same date of birth of Ljubisa Bozic, according to RFE/RL security sources.
Following Berić’s posting, the profile was renamed Musician Sasha a day later.
When asked by RFE/RL, Beric briefly wrote that “there is no possibility of a conversation”.
What did Musician “play”?
First contact with Bosnia and Herzegovina citizen, RFE/RL achieved on the Russian social network Vkontakte. At the suggestion of Bozic/Velimirovic, the contact continued on Telegram, first from one account (Harli) and then from another (Muzikant).
Asked why he left to join the Russian army, he replies, among other things:
“And why not?”.
He also asked why he was being called by someone from the Federation entity instead of someone from Republika Srpska, “if I am from Republika Srpska”.
RFE/RL checked the photograph and found that it had not yet been published on other sites.
“I’m not stupid enough to come home now where there would be a lot of questions. Personally, I am on the Russian side. I am on the Russian side, yes. Personally I will come home the moment when the transition is complete and everything is in Russian, everything. Russia is waiting for the moment to do it,” he said during the conversation.
He repeatedly accused RFE/RL journalists of working for “info services”, SIPA and others, and that the only way to know everything about him is if someone is working for a “job”.
“I am closely tied to Russia. My everything is in Russia, I am planning to get married soon”, he says.
Asked whether he had stayed in Ukraine in 2014 or later, he says that “it’s like going to the grocery store and you already know what’s there”, hinting that he had stayed in parts of Ukraine and Russia before that.
Asked how he prefers to be addressed – as Aleksandar or Ljubisa – he replies:
“Oh, whatever you want. I can be both.”
“I know you are in SIPA, that you work there. I can hide everything, delete profiles. I’m talking to you from a Russian phone,” he said during the conversation.
He also said that his job was to deliver aid, food and other supplies to the Russian army. He claims that he is not on the battlefield and that the photos and videos he posts are there by chance, so they mean nothing.
“What good does it do you to know about me when I come with a new passport and a new name if I ever get to Bosnia?” he says.
During the conversation on the name change, he says:
– I tell you, this man is going to get married, stay there in Russia, that’s it.
– What kind of man?
– This Alexander.
– And Ljubisa?
– As you wish.
– So you are either Ljubiša Božić or Aleksandar Velimirović.
– Yes, yes.
A few minutes later he denies saying any of that.
A few days later, he sends a video message on Telegram showing a toy violin, fire and people in camouflage clothes. “Good morning” is the description of the video, after which the contact is broken off.
Seven people from BiH on the Russian side in Ukraine
Seven people from Bosnia and Herzegovina are being investigated on suspicion of having joined the Russian army, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina told RFE/RL. Several of the persons suspected of being on the Ukrainian side have been living in Ukraine for several years, which is different from their having left BiH for the battlefield a year earlier.
For the most part, the judicial and police authorities refuse to provide more information as “it is a phase of operational checks”.
SIPA reported that they are collecting information and monitoring events, while the prosecutor’s office reported that they are acting in several cases together with partner institutions from BiH and abroad.
Regarding the case of the previously detained Bozic, the prosecutor’s office says that in 2020, when he was arrested and subsequently released, they followed “the established practice in the case against Stevic Gavrilo, where, after the indictment and trial , an acquittal followed”.
Stevic is the first person to be prosecuted in BiH for participation in the 2014 war in Ukraine.
He was finally acquitted in a court in Bosnia and Herzegovina of all charges that accused him of acting as a volunteer, together with other persons from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, against the legitimate power of Ukraine.
Stevic told RFE/RL that he does not deny that he was in Ukraine, but says he did not fight. He says he went to Ukraine because he was interested “as a Yugoslav and an idealist in what was happening on the ground”.
In BiH, people who have gone to the battlefields of Iraq and Syria and joined the terrorist and militant organisations “Islamic State” and “Al-Nusra Front” have so far been punished for illegal membership.
Joining foreign military and paramilitary formations has been a criminal offence in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2014. The prescribed penalties of the Penal Code vary according to the qualification and can range from three months to ten years of imprisonment./RSE/