No one should make a fuss about the claim that "Lora" is not a camp: The state and parties remained silent on Grlić Radman's message

The highest state officials, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MVP) and the strongest parties in power and opposition, remained silent on yesterday's message from the Croatian Foreign Minister. Gordana Grlić Radman that Split's “Lora”, where Montenegrin citizens were killed in the early 1990s, is not a camp, and that “everything related to the events in the prison in 'Lora'” has been processed and judged.

"Vijesti" asked them how they viewed the views of Grlić Radman, and the officials and competent institutions, and whether they would take any action regarding the assessments of the Croatian Foreign Minister.

Asked what Zagreb is prepared to do to shed light on the Split camp case, in which 14 members of the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) from the so-called Nikšić-Šavnik group were killed, the Croatian minister responded in an interview with "Vijesti" that "there is no such thing as a 'Lora camp' and there never was", that it is not an open question, but rather "a narrative that aims to equate aggressor and victim".

"Everything about the events in the 'Lora' prison has been processed and adjudicated, and is in the domain of judicial proceedings, which is neither possible nor necessary to comment on," said Grlić Radman, in response to additional questions - what is "Lora" if not a camp, and how shedding light on the suffering of people who were prisoners of war, who, in accordance with international humanitarian law, deserved protection from torture and killing, can be "a narrative that aims to equate aggressors and victims."

According to the Montenegrin Association of War Veterans, since 1990, 14 members of the former JNA from the so-called Nikšić-Šavnik group, who were captured on the Herzegovina battlefield in 1992, have been killed in “Lora”. The Split County State Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into the murder of a group of prisoners, members of the aforementioned group, at the end of 2011, but the case has not yet reached a conclusion in court. The Montenegrin State Prosecutor’s Office handed over extensive documentation related to the case to Croatia more than a decade ago.

When asked to comment on the claims of Radman Grlić, head of the opposition Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) club Andrija Nikolić He said at a press conference yesterday that he wanted to wait to get to know the interview in more detail and that, bearing in mind that these are positions coming from official Croatian politics, he would not make any more specific comments.

He stated that they certainly expect Montenegro to establish "more serious communication with Croatia" through its institutions.

"We have been informed that negotiations and discussions are underway to remedy the harmful consequences resulting from the adoption of the Resolution on the genocide in Jasenovac. This is obviously now part of the corpus of new issues that need to be discussed," Nikolić said.

Head of State Jakov Milatovic, he said yesterday, commenting on Grlić Radman's position that Podgorica should condemn the aggression on Dubrovnik with a resolution - that the bad policy that existed in Montenegro in the early nineties contributed, among other things, to the destruction of the former state.

"Let's not keep going back to some resolutions... I criticized that resolution (on the genocide in Jasenovac) last year, not because we should deny the genocide in Jasenovac, which did happen, but because I believed that we, on behalf of Montenegro, would reduce and weaken our negotiating position in open bilateral issues with Croatia. What happened? We weakened our negotiating position... Those same people who weakened it, I now ask that they, of course, do something so that we can resolve the issues with official Zagreb in good faith as soon as possible. I also call on official Zagreb to show additional understanding towards Montenegro," he said.

NGO Group: Grlić Radman is wrong

The human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Documenta - Center for Dealing with the Past from Zagreb, the Center for Peace, Nonviolence and Human Rights from Osijek, and the Human Rights Action from Podgorica, expressed their protest yesterday over what they say are inaccurate statements by Grlić Radman.

"The minister is wrong. It is true that final judgments have established that members of the 72nd Military Police Battalion of the Croatian Army humiliated, mentally and physically abused, tortured and physically punished civilians and prisoners of war brought in without any legal basis, to the point of death of some of them. However, unfortunately, not all crimes committed in 'Lora' have been investigated or adjudicated. We warn of the delayed procedure for the suffering of Montenegrin prisoners of war, despite the existence of testimony that the crimes against them occurred," they said, adding that they regret that Grlić Radman, "instead of encouraging the continuation of the prosecution of crimes," is "trying to influence the work of the competent institutions" with his statement.