The Secretariat for Culture, Sports and Social Activities of the Municipality of Kotor has not yet removed the illegally placed memorial plaque at the site of the former camp in Morinje because, as they claim, they have not received written approval from the Ministry of Defense to access the location, which is protected by the Army of Montenegro (AVCG).
From the Department of Defense, headed by Dragan Krapović (Democrats), it was announced late last year that the Army would no longer prevent attempts to remove the sign. Krapović reiterated this on Friday, while appearing on A Plus Television.
"The army is guarding the Morinj military facility. The army will not prevent the state authorities of Montenegro from doing their job. And that's it," he said.
"Vijesti" expects answers from the Ministry on the questions of why, as claimed by the Secretariat of the Kotor Municipality, permission was not granted to access the location where the plaque is located, whether it will be written on and, if so, when.
The plaque in Morinj was unveiled in early October 2022 by the then Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense. Ranko Krivokapic i Rasko Konjević with my Croatian colleagues Gordan Grlić Radman (head of Croatian diplomacy) and Tom Medved (Minister of Croatian Veterans), in memory of the fact that in the early 1990s, the so-called Collection Center for prisoners of war from the Dubrovnik battlefield operated in Morinje for several months.
The plaque was placed outside the procedure stipulated by the Law on Memorials, that is, without a decision from the Government and the consent of the Municipality of Kotor.
Therefore, in mid-October 2022, the former Inspection Administration issued a decision to remove the sign and obliged the Municipality of Kotor to implement it. However, the removal was repeatedly prevented by members of the Army, on the orders of the former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Montenegro. Zoran Lazarevic.
In the town of Morinj, in Kotor, from October 3, 1991 to August 18, 1992, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) organized the so-called Center for the Reception of Prisoners from Croatia, known as the "Morinj Camp", where 292 people from the Dubrovnik region were imprisoned in inhumane conditions. Four people were sentenced to 12 years in prison for this war crime in court proceedings.
The Kotor Secretariat for Culture, Sports and Social Activities told "Vijesti" yesterday that with the assistance of the local Municipal Police, the Inspection Service and the engagement of the Kotor Municipal Executive Service, they organized the administrative enforcement of the decision to remove the plaque four times.
"For each of the above-mentioned executions, written approval from the Ministry of Defense was first requested for access to a location protected by the Army of Montenegro, but this approval was never provided to us," they claim.
They asked that Kotor no longer be responsible for the removal
As, they state, the fourth attempt at "administrative enforcement" ended unsuccessfully and as they received the same response from the soldiers in Morinje that they could not be allowed to the location without written approval from the Ministry, the Secretariat, they add, informed the inspector for cultural heritage about everything, "with a request to suspend all further proceedings against the Municipality of Kotor regarding the removal of the illegally erected memorial."
"Vijesti" expects answers from the Ministry of Culture and Media, under whose jurisdiction the inspector is, on whether they have accepted the Secretariat's request and when the plaque will be removed.
According to the regulations, if an inspector goes to the field and orders the removal of a monument, the local government must act on that order immediately, and no later than within three days. If the order is not carried out within the stipulated time, the inspector goes to the field again and draws up a report, which the first person of the municipality must declare. If the monument is not removed even after that, the state will do it at the expense of the local government.
In the town of Morinj, in Kotor, from October 3, 1991 to August 18, 1992, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) organized the so-called Center for the Reception of Prisoners from Croatia, known as the "Morinj Camp", where 292 people from the Dubrovnik region were detained in inhumane conditions (the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro and Croatia were coordinating the lists of detainees because their documentation on this did not match). 169 prisoners testified about the inhumane treatment they were subjected to.
For this war crime, four people were sentenced to 12 years in prison in court. The Special State Prosecutor's Office announced in early February that, by order of the Chief Special Prosecutor, Vladimir Novović Criminal cases were reopened regarding, among other things, war crimes in Morinje.
The plaque, according to part of the Montenegrin public, does not properly treat the historical circumstances when Montenegro was a participant in the aggression against Croatia in the area of Konavle and Dubrovnik. Minister Krapović said in January last year that the plaque should be replaced with another one, “with adequate text”. It mentions the “Greater Serbian aggression against Croatia”, and reads: “We remember the crimes committed to disgrace the name and spirit of Montenegro. We express regret for all the suffering that the prisoners endured. May it never happen again”.
This monument was erected, as the inspector for the protection of cultural property who issued the order for its removal noted, without documentation proving that the plaque in question is included in the Memorial Program adopted by the Kotor Municipal Assembly, and that there is no government consent because it concerns an event for which the prescribed 50 years have not passed since its occurrence.
The Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Kotor dismissed the criminal charges against Krivokapić and Konjević for the installation of the plaque in August 2023. The charge against them was filed with the Special State Prosecutor's Office by the then Directorate for Inspection Affairs on suspicion that they had committed a criminal offense related to the violation and unauthorized erection of a memorial.
The head of Croatian diplomacy told "Vijesti" in March that for Zagreb, the plaque in Morinje is "a statement of the consciousness of the people of Montenegro" and the starting point of new relations after the change of government in Montenegro in 2020.
"... And it, just as it is, represents a place of reverence and remembrance for us. Any interference with it would be the destruction of the relations built between our countries," said Grlić Radman at the time.
He stated that "the text that Montenegro wrote on the board" speaks of Greater Serbia aggression, and that it is "a project and ideology that should definitely be condemned."
"Montenegro has been compromised by participating in that project and has not yet fully faced that part of the past, because otherwise such questions would not be asked and there would be no key places in Montenegrin history that are being bypassed or silenced to the detriment of its own people," stated Grlić Radman.
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