The head of the Bosniak Party parliamentary group, Amer Smailović, said that they believe there is a fear that the work of the parliamentary Inquiry Committee could be used for political purposes, including the "glorification of Pavle Bulatović".
Smailović says Bulatović is directly responsible for "at least one war crime" – the deportation of Bosnian-Herzegovinian refugees from Herceg Novi.
The Bosniak Party, he said, did not support the formation of that committee precisely because they believe that it will not achieve a confrontation with the past, "but on the contrary, may lead to further belittling of the victims and their families."
"The Bosniak Party expresses its concern and strong protest over the attempt to glorify Pavle Bulatović, former Minister of Internal Affairs of Montenegro and Minister of Defense of the FRY, which recently occurred through the promotion of his monograph at the Public Institution Cultural and Information Center 'Zeta'. Namely, the public is aware that it was Pavle Bulatović, in his capacity as Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Montenegro, who, via telegram number 14-101 dated 23 May 05, issued an order to illegally deprive civilians of Bosniak nationality of their liberty and illegally hand them over to paramilitary units in internationally unrecognized territories in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was done in the case known to the public as 'Deportation'. Let us note that this fact was indisputably confirmed by the verdict of the Higher Court in Podgorica," Smailović announced.
He said that facing the past implies "a thorough consideration and condemnation of all those who participated in war crimes, not an attempt to rehabilitate them."
"This approach only deepens divisions in society and distances Montenegro from European values. At the same time, we encourage the Prosecutor's Office of Montenegro to focus on investigations into war and all other crimes, including all unsolved murders, with a special emphasis on murders with a possible political motive, as well as murders and attacks on journalists. We see the only correct solution as the actual prosecution of those responsible, without these cases being used by politicians as a tool to divert attention from real responsibility for the crimes committed during the 90s, and the rehabilitation and glorification of responsible persons and policies that are behind the wars and crimes of the XNUMXs," the statement reads.
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