A memorial gathering held in front of the Herceg Novi police building today at noon commemorated the 34th anniversary of the war crime of deportation of Bosnian-Herzegovinian refugees.

The gathering, organized by Human Rights Action (HRA), Center for Civic Education (CCE) and ANIMA – Center for Women’s and Peace Education, was attended by family members of the victims of the crime, representatives of the Government of Montenegro, the Deputy Ombudsman, members of the Montenegrin Parliament, councillors of the Herceg Novi Municipal Assembly, a representative of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office, the Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Montenegro, representatives of the Bosniak Council, the Islamic Community, political parties, non-governmental organizations, media, and citizens of Herceg Novi.

Yet again, this anniversary was not marked by the reopening of criminal investigations, the establishment of a memorial, or the designation of an official day of remembrance for the deportation victims.

Nevertheless, an important step toward institutional commemoration of the crime was made in April of this year. At a meeting with councillors of the Herceg Novi Municipal Assembly and Minister of Culture and Media Tamara Vujović, support was expressed for the initiative to erect a memorial to the deportation victims. The formation of a working group was also proposed to finalize the text of the future memorial, so as to permanently preserve the memory of the victims and show respect to those who suffered.

Tea Gorjanc Prelević, Executive Director of the NGO Human Rights Action, opened the gathering by saying that we have gathered today not only because of the past, but because of our responsible relationship toward the future.

“We are encouraged that a new era appears to have begun in Herceg Novi – an era in which political actors at a joint meeting a month ago expressed an almost unanimous commitment that such crimes shall never happen again and in that spirit support permanent and dignified commemoration of the suffering of the innocent. A memorial cannot bring anyone back, but it can preserve the memory of the victims and warn future generations. A memorial can express nobility – that in Montenegro and in Herceg Novi, a commitment to truth and a human approach to the innocent victim is chosen,” Gorjanc Prelević said. Her entire speech in Montenegrin is available here.

Ernad Suljević, Minister of Regional Development and Cooperation with NGOs, said that today, as we pay tribute to those who suffered, we must remember one important truth – that every innocent victim, regardless of what faith or nation they belonged to, deserves equal respect, equal mourning, and equal human compassion.

“Today we remember with sorrow the innocent people who came to Montenegro seeking safety, believing they would find peace and refuge from war, but instead became victims of injustice and suffering. We remember their families, their pain, their waiting, the silence and the void that has never gone away. Let the memory of these innocent people not divide us, but bring us together in our shared desire to be a better society. And let it always remind us that the greatest victory of a society is when it succeeds in preserving the human in humanity,” Suljević concluded. His entire speech in Montenegrin is available here.

Mensur Bošnjak, Deputy Ombudsman for the Protection from Discrimination, Vulnerable Groups and Gender Equality, emphasized that the question of erecting a memorial is not merely a question of form or symbolism without substance.

“It is a question of the state’s and society’s relationship to truth, to the victims, and to future generations. It is important that the culture of remembrance not live only from anniversary to anniversary but that it be permanent and visibly woven into the space and conscience of Montenegro,” Bošnjak said. His entire speech in Montenegrin is available here.

Kenana Strujić Harbić, a member of the Bosniak Party in the Montenegrin Parliament, pointed out that the CB Herceg Novi building was not a symbol of security but a gathering center where people were assembled to be taken to a designated place where they would be killed because of their name.

“I call upon the authorities to remove the stain from the name of Montenegro, the Montenegrin police, and the Herceg Novi Security Center through an appropriate memorial, and I call upon the prosecution to finally bring the criminals to justice – because the crime is the reason for condemnation, not the name,” Strujić Harbić said. Her entire speech in Montenegrin is available here.

Jovan Subotić, Member of Parliament from the Europe Now Movement in the Parliament of Montenegro and councillor of the Novska lista in Herceg Novi, said that new generations have come of age who are ready to face the crime of deportation and commemorate it in a dignified manner, through the erection of a memorial and the cultivation of a culture of remembrance.

“These people came to our city and other cities of Montenegro believing they would find refuge in them. It is our obligation to preserve the truth about what happened and to not allow such evil to ever happen again,” Subotić said, warning that “many of those evil people still live among us today” and that some of them “still deny what happened”.

He emphasized that Herceg Novi and Montenegro must be places of refuge and safety, “and never the final stop for our loved ones”. His entire speech in Montenegrin is available here.

Tanja Vujičić, councillor of the European Alliance in Herceg Novi, said that by erecting a memorial we will not bring back the lost lives but we will show that they have not been forgotten, that we have acknowledged our mistakes, and that nothing similar will ever happen again.

“We owe them truth, respect and lasting remembrance,” Vujičić said. Her entire speech in Montenegrin is available here.

Alen Bajrović, son of Osmo Bajrović, said that he expects the state to finally name those responsible and determine who the perpetrators of the crime are, to bring to justice those who were the instigators, the direct executors, and all those who, from their chairs, with a finger determined the targets.

“It is necessary for the state to also care for the mortal remains of the victims, and to build, with the help of new generations of politicians and people of good will, a memorial that will clearly indicate the brutal and horrific war crime that occurred with the signature of the state of Montenegro,” Bajrović emphasized. His entire speech in Montenegrin is available here.

Jasenka Perović, sister of the deceased Alenka Titorić, emphasized how much it means to her that the initiative to erect a memorial has finally been launched.

“We know how much our lives have been devastated and how difficult it has been to build a normal life for more than three decades, to build our own families and our own futures, and in a way to protect our children from transgenerational trauma. The erection of a memorial would allow me to turn toward my future life and finally breathe somewhat. I would suggest that the names and surnames of the missing and killed people be written on the memorial plaque, but also that space be left so that some names can be added later, since the exact number of victims has not yet been determined,” Perović said. Her entire speech in Montenegrin is available here.

Elsan Kalač, representative of the Islamic Community, said that this day and this gathering show that our souls have not died, because the most difficult state a soul can fall into is indifference.

“Indifference means we are essentially dead, and through this gathering we show that we are not indifferent to the crime. Because when we are indifferent to evil, it repeats itself,” Kalač said. His entire speech in Montenegrin is available here.

Dženana Kuč, representative of the Bosniak Council, again appealed to the Special State Prosecutor’s Office to revisit this crime.

“We believe that those who ordered the deportations should be prosecuted, as well as all those responsible for the deportations and sending to death dozens of refugees. We also believe that it is high time for state and local authorities to create administrative and technical conditions for a memorial to be erected within the grounds of the MUP Herceg Novi building. We also demand that curricula finally include content so that children in schools have knowledge of this and other war crimes that occurred in Montenegro,” Kuč emphasized. Her entire speech in Montenegrin is available here.

Šeki Radončić, journalist and publicist, said that he regrets that former Montenegrin Parliament member Ćazim Lukač, after whose speech in the Montenegrin Parliament the action of arresting and deporting refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina was halted, did not live to see the news of support for the initiative to erect a memorial.

Radončić added that, as a man who has investigated this case for 34 years, he proposes that a memorial plaque with the names and surnames of the missing and killed people be placed on the building of the MUP of Montenegro.

“That memorial plaque should remind us that this is a state crime and recall who was then leading the state, namely the Ministry of Internal Affairs directly, who were the deputies and who were the executors. And of course, we should demand that the archives be opened. Archives exist for everything that was done,” Radončić emphasized.

He also recalled the initiative that he and Jasenka Perović submitted to the president of Montenegro for the awarding of posthumous recognition to Herceg Novi police officer Milan Jokić, who freed two arrested Bosniaks, brothers Nedžib and Nermin Sijerčić, and thus saved their lives. To that initiative, as he noted, they have not received a response to this day. His entire speech in Montenegrin is available here.

Luka Radović, a citizen of Herceg Novi, said that at the time of the crime he was 10 years old, but that he also knew one of the victims – the deceased Osam Bajrović.

“Thank you to everyone who, all these years, despite the passing of time, have preserved the memory of the innocently murdered people,” Radović said. His entire speech in Montenegrin is available here.

Aleksandar Božović, a citizen of Herceg Novi who, as he notes, by a quirk of fate saw the buses in which the victims were taken away, recalls that there were two buses. However, he emphasized that the victims were not taken away by buses, but by people – by name and surname.

“Each of them has their own responsibility, and it must be named. The cities are not to blame, but those who made the decisions and committed the crime. I expect a memorial and lasting remembrance, because these people came to Montenegro believing in it, but they did not find what they were looking for,” Božović said. His entire speech in Montenegrin is available here.

Petar Đukanović, Program Director of the Center for Civic Education, said that memory alone is not enough to achieve true justice for these victims.

“True justice is, first and foremost, the prosecution and adequate punishment of all those who were the instigators and executors of this crime. We will continue to advocate for the erection of a memorial, for marking May 25th as a day of remembrance for this crime, and for further prosecution of those responsible,” Đukanović concluded. His entire speech in Montenegrin is available here.

The gathering was attended by family members of the deported victims Sanina Krdžalije, Alenka Titorić and Osam Bajrović. The mortal remains of Bajrović and Titorić have still not been found.

Also attending were Montenegrin Parliament members Amer Smailović, Jasmin Ćorović and Adel Omeragić, State Secretary in the Ministry of Culture and Media Luka Ilić, as well as the Head of the Security Department of Herceg Novi Miodrag Knežević with police officers.

The Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Montenegro, Branimir Jukić, also attended, while the Special State Prosecutor’s Office was represented by legal advisor Branko Vujisić. On behalf of the Herceg Novi Municipality, Municipality Manager Dušan Vuković attended, together with councilwomen and councilmen of the local parliament.

Among the participants were also representatives of the Bosniak Council, non-governmental organizations and political parties – URA, European Alliance, DPS, Democrats, Novi List and Bokešan Forum for Herceg Novi. A list of participants is available here.

FACTS

According to available official documents, in May and June 1992, the Montenegrin police unlawfully arrested at least 66 Muslim-Bosniaks from Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely persons presumed to be of Muslim ethnicity, who had fled the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina to Montenegro, and then handed them over to the hostile army of the Serbian Republic in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Fifty-four of them were killed, while only twelve survived extradition to concentration camps. Thirty-three Serbs and three Croats were also deported from Herceg Novi, but it is not known that any of them died as a consequence of the deportation. The Croats were released immediately, as was a considerable number of the Serbs, who were not even mobilized.

According to the findings of Šekija Radončić, a researcher of this war crime, many more refugees were deported. In his book Fatal Freedom (Kobna sloboda), he cites the figure of 143 deported refugees, of whom 105 were Bosniaks.

On 25 May 1992, one group of arrested refugees was sent by bus from the collection center in Herceg Novi to the Foča Correctional Facility, which by then already had all the characteristics of a concentration camp for the non-Serb population, a fact established by the judgment of the Hague Tribunal against the warden of that camp, Milorad Krnojelac. Two days later, on 27 May 1992, another group of arrested refugees from Herceg Novi was taken by bus to the territory of Republika Srpska, “where they were supposed to become part of a group of Muslims to be exchanged for captured Serbian territorial defense members.” All the Bosniaks were killed in the vicinity of Bratunac.

In 2008, after a four-year trial, Montenegro paid compensation under a court settlement to 200 family members of the victims for the unlawful actions of the Montenegrin police, which led to tragic consequences. The fact that they had been unlawfully arrested and extradited as hostages was also established by a final criminal judgment in Montenegro, as well as by the judgment of the Hague Tribunal in the Krnojelac case, concerning the warden of the camp in Foča. However, in the criminal proceedings conducted in Montenegro, all defendants were acquitted because the court arbitrarily introduced the requirement that the accused “had to belong to an organization of a party to the conflict or act in the service of a party to the conflict in order to be responsible for a war crime.” The court concluded that Montenegro was not a party to the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina and that the accused had not acted in the service of the Bosnian Serbs, which is contrary to the established facts (judgment Ks. 6/12).

In 2025, the victims of the Deportation were recognized as civilian victims of war through amendments to the Law on Veterans’ and Disability Protection. The Government of Montenegro also adopted a decision to pay a one-time compensation of EUR 100,000 to the family of Osmo Bajrović, who was killed in this crime, and whose wife and children are Montenegrin citizens. This act represents an important step toward acknowledging responsibility and redressing a long-standing injustice.

THREE INITIATIVES

Fifteen years ago, in 2011, HRA, CGO, ANIMA and Aleksandar Saša Zeković, then a member of the Council for Civilian Control of Police Work, submitted three initiatives to:

• Proclaim a Day of Remembrance for the victims of the 1992 refugee deportation crime;

• Erect a memorial to the victims of the 1992 refugee deportation in front of the Police Directorate building in Herceg Novi, thereby supporting the wishes of the families of the victims;

• Have the Montenegrin police issue an apology for the unlawful arrest and extradition of refugees to the hostile army of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We have repeated these initiatives for years.

Last year, on the occasion of marking 33 years since the Deportation, a meeting was held for the first time with the President of the Municipality of Herceg Novi, Stevan Katić, and the President of the Municipal Assembly, Miloš Konjević. The meeting was attended by the families of the victims, as well as representatives of HRA, CGO and ANIMA. On that occasion, the representatives of the Municipality of Herceg Novi expressed their readiness to support the initiative to erect a memorial to the victims of the refugee deportation.

This year, on 25 April, a meeting was also organized with councilors of the Herceg Novi Municipal Assembly from Democratic Montenegro, the Novi List, the Democratic Party of Socialists, the European Alliance, the Civic Movement for Herceg Novi “Idemooo”, and the Civic Movement URA, as well as with the Minister of Culture and Media, Tamara Vujović.

A readiness was expressed for the chairs of the councilor groups to support the initiative and submit it to the Herceg Novi Municipal Assembly, so that the memory of the victims could be permanently and institutionally commemorated and respect shown to those who lost their lives. The formation of a Working Group at the level of the collegium of the President of the Municipal Assembly was also proposed, which would agree on the text of the future memorial.

The third initiative is the only one that has been officially accepted and implemented. This happened in 2022, when the Director of the Police Directorate, Zoran Brđanin, and the Minister of the Interior, Filip Adžić, at a memorial gathering in Herceg Novi marking the thirtieth anniversary of the crime, issued a public apology to the victims and their families for the actions of the Montenegrin police. In addition, in August 2023, the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, apologized on behalf of Montenegro for this crime at a meeting with Alen Bajrović, the son of Osmo Bajrović, a victim of the Deportation, and with representatives of HRA, CCE and ANIMA.

Human Rights Action (HRA)

Centre for Civic Education (CCE)

Centre for Women’s and Peace Education – ANIMA