This May, we commemorate 21 years since the war crime against Bosnian refugees in Montenegro in 1992. At least 66 Bosnian-Muslim civilian refugees were illegally arrested in Montenegro at the time, and handed over to, for them, the enemy army of Bosnian Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as hostages. Only 12 of the deported people survived the torture in concentration camps. The remains of most of the victims have not yet been found.
This war crime has not yet been punished in accordance with international and domestic law, and instead of justice, we are witnesses of a “projected oblivion” conducted by state authorities. The first-instance criminal court for the second time ruled that this case was not a war crime for which the defendant or others can be held responsible. Those who ordered the crime and those who could have prevented it were never prosecuted, although the former president Momir Bulatović confessed before the court that the case was a “state error”.
It has been two years since we officially submitted an initiative to the President of the Parliament Ranko Krivokapić and to all heads of parliamentary groups, to proclaim the 27 May a Day of remembrance of the deportation of refugees victims in 1992 from Montenegro. We submitted another initiative to the Prime Minister of Montenegro Igor Lukšić, the Minister of the Interior Ivan Brajović and the Minister of Culture Branislav Mićunović, as well as to the President of the Municipality of Herceg Novi Dejan Mandić – to raise a memorial for the deportation of refugees victims in 1992 in front of the building of the Police Department in Herceg Novi, thus supporting the will of the families of deported victims. Last year an initiative was submitted to the Montenegrin police to issue an apology because of the exercise of police force during the deportation of refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
These initiatives gave no results to this date. A spokeswoman of the Ministry of Culture, Danica Nikolić stated last year that “the Ministry of Culture and colleagues from other departments will do everything in order to finish the memorial as soon as possible”. The President of the Parliament, Ranko Krivokapić, publicly supported the initiative to establish a day of remembrance, but he never included the initiative in the agenda of the Parliament. Similarly, the President of the Municipality of Herceg Novi, Dejan Mandić, expressed his opinion that the city was not ready for this memorial, but he never enabled the Municipal Assembly to discuss this issue.
On 11 July 2011 in Podgorica, the Prime Minister Igor Lukšić opened a «monument for victims of civil wars 1991-200» – a nameless memorial that does not explain anything about what happened in that decade, who are the victims, of what crimes, and who is responsible for them?Therefore, this monument cannot in any way be considered as a response to our initiative.
Although the Government agreed to pay compensation to the families of victims, 21 years have passed since the crime of deportation without a judgement that a war crime had been committed against the refugees, without determined individual responsibility, and with no memorial and day of remembrance for the victims of the crime.
We appeal again this May:
– to stop denying the war crimes committed against Bosnian civilian refugees in Montenegro;
– to determine the responsibility of perpetrators of the crime and those who ordered its commission, namely those who knew about it, but did nothing to prevent it;
– to erect a memorial plaque in front of the Police Department in Herceg Novi in memory of the victims and as a warning for future generations of police officers that they should not carry out illegal orders;
– to establish a day of remembrance for the victims of deportations in 1992.
On Monday, 27May 2013 at 10:00 am, we will commemorate by standing and laying flowers in memory of the victims of crimes committed against Bosnian civilians in Herceg Novi, and remind Montenegrin public that crimes in Herceg Novi must not be forgotten.
