No monument, no justice

A memorial gathering in front of the police building in Herceg Novi yesterday marked the 31st anniversary of the war crime of deportation of refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The meeting was organized by Action for Human Rights (HRA), Center for Civic Education (CGO) and ANIMA - Center for Peace and Women's Education, in the presence of families of crime victims and officials from the Government, representatives of the Islamic Community, the Bosniak Council, UNDP in Montenegro Gori, political parties (URA, SDP, SD, Bosnian Party, Liberal Party), non-governmental organizations, activists and citizens of Herceg Novi.

"For years, we have been advocating for criminal justice, for a memorial for the victims, Memorial Day and an apology from the Montenegrin police. We experienced that apology last year. Second, we are not. We are doing all this so that nothing like this happens again - and it won't happen again if the authorities decide through their actions that it won't happen again. Then when they move from words to actions - when they create a monument, declare a day of remembrance and make additional efforts to punish this crime," said the executive director of HRA. Tea Gorjanc Prelevic.

HRA, CGO and ANIMA announced that unofficial civil Montenegro, for 19 years, has been honoring the victims of this war crime every year, and this is the 14th memorial gathering in front of the police building in Herceg Novi, where the largest number of illegally arrested civilians from Bosnia came from. and Herzegovina handed over to the army of the Serbian Republic.

"And this year, we will not allow the victims of this war crime to be forgotten, we demand the determination of criminal responsibility and a worthy memorial for the victims," ​​said those NGOs.

Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic said, as reported by the Government, that this is a Montenegro that does not run away from the past and that is facing it.

"We learn from historical mistakes in order to be better in the future," said Abazović.

President of the Bosniak Council in Montenegro Suljo Mustafić he asked the state and local authorities to finally set up an adequate memorial in the grounds of the MUP Herceg Novi building, and from the Special State Prosecutor's Office to "systematically and seriously" investigate and prosecute the perpetrators and instigators of this crime.

NGOs remind that in May 1992, the Montenegrin police illegally arrested at least 66 civilians aged 18 to 66, who had fled to Montenegro from the war that was already raging in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and handed them over as hostages to the Bosnian Serb army under leadership Radovan Karadžić i Ratko Mladić to serve them for the exchange of prisoners of war.

"This fact is evidenced by written documents and the final judgment of the criminal court. All those extradited from Herceg Novi on May 27, 1992 were killed immediately afterwards, while the second group was sent to the concentration camp in Foč (KPD) on May 25, 1992, and only a few of them survived. The bodies of all the victims deported from Herceg Novi on May 27, 1992 have not yet been found, nor is it known for certain the place where they died. In the police operation, at least 33 civilians of Serbian nationality were arrested and deported for forced mobilization into the army of the then Republika Srpska. We have no information that any of them were killed," the statement said.

The victims of this crime, as assessed, are indisputable, after a four-year trial, Montenegro paid compensation to their families on the basis of a settlement due to the illegal actions of the Montenegrin police, which led to fatal consequences and the most severe torture of the survivors.

"That they were illegally arrested and extradited as hostages was established by a final criminal judgment in Montenegro, as well as by the judgment of the Hague Tribunal in the case against Milorad Krnojelac, the manager of the camp in Foča", stated the NGO.