Štrpci: a crime with a name and no vertical justice

(From the manuscript of the book “Štrpci - Crime and Process”)

As we approach another anniversary of the crime in Štrpci, it is our duty to remind not only the perpetrators themselves, but also the institutional framework in which this crime was possible. As the legal representative of the injured families in the proceedings before the High Court in Bijelo Polje, against one of the direct perpetrators, I had the opportunity to examine both the judicial and extrajudicial dimensions of this case. What was left out of the indictments is just as important as what was proven in them.

Institutional context and vertical responsibility

The crime in Štrpci was not an isolated incident, but an event that took place within the framework of clearly defined institutional roles and - more importantly - institutional tolerance. The Belgrade - Bar passenger train had a police escort and the presence of railway staff, whose duty was to monitor the safety of passengers. The court found that the police officers did not prevent the armed group from entering the train, nor did they intervene when the passengers were selectively taken out. The railway staff remained passive, without criminal liability.

The selection of passengers was quick and precise, indicating prior knowledge and planned organization. The witness statements also mentioned the name of Vladimir Matović, an advisor to then-President Dobrica Ćosić, who was seen at the Main Railway Station in Belgrade. His presence was not legally confirmed by the indictments, but it remains part of the public and witness discourse, which points to possible connections with the political elite - connections that the judiciary has never examined.

Analysis of the vertical of responsibility shows a clear distinction between the prosecuted perpetrators - Gojko Lukić, Duško Vasiljević, Ljubiša Vasiljević, Dragan Đekić and others - and the institutional and political level, which remained beyond the reach of justice. Štrpci has thus become a paradigm of a place where executive responsibility exists, but the broader institutional and political dimension remains unclear.

That is why, back then, I filed criminal charges against several high-ranking military, police and political officials of the then FRY and the Republic of Serbia, including Milan Lukić, the leader of the “Avengers”, Života Panić, Milan Panić, Dragoljub Ojdanić, Jovica Stanišić, Slobodan Milošević and others. The charge was based on documentation and official information which, according to the allegations, indicated that the competent authorities had knowledge of planned and previous kidnappings of passengers at Štrpci station, including the events of 12 February 1993.

According to the complaint, the authorities, although aware of the security assessments and information about the detention of trains and the abduction of passengers, failed to take action within their jurisdiction to prevent the abduction of Bosniak civilians from train number 671, which was operating on the Belgrade-Bar route on February 27, 1993. At 3:54 p.m., the passengers were forcibly taken off the train and then killed, whose names are today a permanent reminder of the obligation to remember.

The criminal complaint has not resulted in a prosecutorial decision to date.

If the question is raised whether a nation or a state can bear the epithet "criminal", the answer must be clear: guilt is always individual. However, responsibility - especially in the case of Štrbac - also has a collective dimension, because it implies a system, an environment and institutional silence without which the crime would not be possible.

Štrpci - the continuity of an evil

The crime in Štrpci did not happen because the war was cruel, but because it was prepared for a long time. Before the train was stopped, conscience was stopped. Before people were taken out of the wagon, they were taken out of the community - in language, in perception, in the way they were labeled.

Violence does not begin with a gunshot. It begins the moment a man ceases to be called a man. When a name becomes suspect, and religion sufficient proof of guilt. In such an order, crime is not an exception, but a logical outcome.

Sandžak has lived for decades in a process of silent separation. Not always through open repression, but constantly through the message that it is different, marginal and replaceable. A space in which identity is tolerated but not accepted is always a space in which violence is possible. In such environments, crime does not come suddenly - it matures.

The people on the train were not chosen at random. They were recognized. Their names and surnames were enough. At that moment, they were not passengers, but labels. And where a label replaces a face, death becomes a technical matter.

That is why Štrpci cannot be understood as an incident. An incident is something that deviates from the rule. Štrpci fit into a pattern. They were the final act of a long process in which evil was taught, justified and hushed up for years.

Whoever sees Štrpce as a coincidence seeks peace in oblivion.

Whoever sees them as a consequence, takes on the obligation of remembering.

The author is a lawyer; he is the executive director of the Montenegrin Committee of Lawyers for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms.