The Ministry of Justice of Montenegro has not been officially informed about the status of the war crimes case concerning the Klapuh family, although the complete case file was sent to Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 2024 for the renewed prosecution of Radomir Kovač and Zoran Vuković.

On 3 July 2026, Human Rights Action wrote to Montenegro’s Minister of Justice, Bojan Božović, requesting information on whether the Ministry had ever been officially notified of the position taken by the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina in this case, and whether it possessed any document confirming that the authorities had abandoned further investigation, the assumption of prosecution, the arrest, or the extradition of the perpetrators.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina recently informed Ferid Klapuh that it would not conduct an investigation against Kovač and Vuković for the murder of his parents, Ferida and Hasan, and his sister Sena, committed 34 years ago. Kovač and Vuković were finally convicted of this war crime in Montenegro in 1996, but they were tried in absentia. They have not served a single day of their sentences and continue to live freely in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bosnia and Herzegovina had previously also refused to take over the enforcement of the sentences or to extradite the suspects to Montenegro. Now, invoking the principle of res judicata—a matter already adjudicated—the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina is also refusing to prosecute them, even though it is clear that the sentences imposed in Montenegro cannot be enforced and that the defendants cannot be extradited. Such an approach effectively amounts to an amnesty for a war crime, contrary to the international obligation of aut dedere aut iudicare—extradite or prosecute—and sends the message that fugitives from justice benefit from delaying proceedings.

According to the Ministry’s response, the competent authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina have not provided it with any official position regarding this case.

This situation—the refusal to prosecute combined with the inability to enforce the sentences or secure extradition—leaves the victims without justice and creates a dangerous precedent of impunity for war crimes.