The Montenegrin State Prosecutor's Office has the obligation to prosecute crimes committed during the war in Croatia on its own initiative, and it should cooperate with the Croatian State Prosecutor's Office on this.
This was announced by the executive director of Action for Human Rights (HRA), Tea Gorjanc Prelevic, head of the Zagreb Center for Facing the Past - Documenta Vesna Teršelić, and executive director of the Civic Education Center Daliborka Uljarević.
They remind that, on this day 32 years ago, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) carried out the heaviest shelling of Dubrovnik during the aggression it led from October 1, 1991 to May 31, 1992 against Croatia.
"'The war operation Dubrovnik was in fact a conquest, demolition and plunder campaign against the Republic of Croatia', wrote about the participation of Montenegro in the war against Croatia, the historians Professor Šerbo Rastoder, Ph.D. and Novak Adžić, M.Sc., wrote in the text about the participation of Montenegro in the war against Croatia. 'It was an unjust, war of conquest against Croatia, in which Montenegro was embarrassed, because it was harnessed to the politics of the JNA and Slobodan Milošević,' said Nikola Samardžić, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Montenegro at the time of the attack on Dubrovnik, in his testimony on the trial of General Pavlo Strugar before the Hague Tribunal. Milan Milišić was among the first victims in the city. Poet. Playwright. Serbian. Milan was killed (October 5.10.1991, XNUMX) after the Serbian Chetnik soldiers shelled the inner city center from the ships. That is the best example of how senseless this war is. And I am sure that Milišić died in an armchair, translating poetry into English by candlelight, believing that ``only what must happen'' will happen, Pavo Urban, photographer, student and defender of Dubrovnik, stated in his war diary. in the announcement.
It is recalled that on December 6, 1991, 19 people lost their lives, and 60 were injured and wounded. Several hundred shells were fired at the old city center, protected as a UNESCO world cultural heritage. Six buildings were completely destroyed, several of them damaged, as well as the main street Stradun. The old town was exposed to an artillery attack for more than ten and a half hours. Pavo Urban (23) and Tonči Skočko (18) died inside its walls, while three people were seriously wounded.
The International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia (Hague Tribunal) sentenced JNA colonel-general Pavle Strugar to seven and a half years in prison and Admiral Miodrag Jokić to seven years in prison for the crimes committed during the illegal shelling of Dubrovnik on December 6, 1991. Admiral Jokić pleaded guilty and was convicted of command responsibility for the actions of his subordinates, but the prosecutor's position was that he did not issue the shelling order. On the same day, he apologized for the attack to the people of Dubrovnik and the Croatian minister, expressing regret for the victims and damage. JNA captain Vladimir Kovačević - Rambo, from Nikšić, was also accused of the attack on Dubrovnik, but the Hague Tribunal refused to try him due to his incompetence. Later, the court in Belgrade, where Kovačević resides, dismissed the indictment against him. In the end, after the trial in The Hague, retired JNA admiral Milan Zec was acquitted.
"Apart from the illegal shelling of Dubrovnik on December 6, the Prosecutor's Office in The Hague did not investigate other crimes committed by members of the JNA during the entire six months of the conquest of the wider Dubrovnik area. During that period, 116 civilians were killed, 194 Croatian fighters and 165 members of the JNA from Montenegro were killed Above, 443 people were detained in the Morinj (Montenegro) and Bileća (BiH) camps in inhumane conditions, 33.000 people were deported, 2071 residential buildings were destroyed and private and public goods were systematically looted. The city of Dubrovnik was without electricity and water for 138 days. , in a naval and air blockade. These data indicate the commission of numerous war crimes," the statement added.
It is indicated that Montenegro has so far prosecuted and punished only four people who participated in the abuse of prisoners in the JNA camp in Morinje, on the territory of Montenegro, while the issue of command responsibility has never been raised.
"The Montenegrin State Prosecutor's Office has the obligation to prosecute crimes committed during the war in Croatia on its own initiative, and it should cooperate with the Croatian State Attorney's Office on this. However, this cooperation is absent in the case that was formed on August 8, 2022 in Montenegro in order to examined whether the former Chief of the General Staff of the Army of Montenegro, Admiral Dragan Samardžić, ordered the opening of fire from a ship at civilian targets in Split on November 15, 1991. One year and four months ago, the SDT requested from the State Attorney's Office of the Republic of Croatia (DORH) all relevant data related to the mentioned event. The requested data was not delivered, despite numerous urgencies," it is emphasized.
In addition, they add, former military leaders of the JNA from Serbia and Montenegro were accused in Croatia of war crimes on the Dubrovnik battlefield: Jevrem Cokić, Mile Ružinovski, Pavle Strugar, Miodrag Jokić, Branko Stanković, Obrad Vičić, Radovan Komar, Vladimir Kovačević, Milan Zec and Zoran Gvozdenović. A warrant was issued against them in 2022.
"As Serbia and Montenegro do not have the obligation to extradite their citizens to Croatia on charges of war crimes, it is unclear why the Croatian judiciary did not deliver these cases to Serbia and Montenegro for processing. That is why HRA and Documenta from the DORH and the County State Attorney's Office in Split requested information on whether, through the usual diplomatic channels, this indictment was delivered to the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro, with an invitation to inform the citizens of Montenegro of the fact that criminal proceedings are being conducted against its citizens in the Republic of Croatia. transfer of this procedure to the judiciary of Montenegro in order to prosecute crimes, as well as during some other procedures in the past. We have not received an answer to date," the announcement concludes.
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