The announced possibility that, after years of silence and institutional neglect, the issue of commemorating the victims of the war crime of the deportation of refugees from Herceg Novi in 1992 will finally receive a concrete epilogue through the erection of a memorial, could mark an important step towards a more responsible attitude of local authorities towards the victims and their families.
It also expects Alen Bajrović, son of the murdered Osmo Bajrović, whose remains were never found.
"The construction of monuments and the culture of remembrance is necessary for us as families, and even more so for the citizens of Montenegro, to remind us of the war crime committed by the state of Montenegro, and the war policy of the politicians from the 90s who ruled Montenegro, so that such a terrible war crime would never happen to anyone again...", Bajrović told "Vijesti".
His father was one of the victims of the 1992 deportation of Bosnian-Herzegovinian refugees from Herceg Novi. According to official documents, in May and June of that year, Montenegrin police illegally arrested at least 66 Bosniak refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina and handed them over to the army of Republika Srpska. Most of them were killed, and only 12 people survived the camps. At the same time, 33 Serb refugees were arrested and returned to Republika Srpska for mobilization.
Bajrović's father was captured by the Herceg Novi police in their family home in Bijela.
"Two uniformed police officers burst into our house and took me and my sister from their embraces. Adise "They are interrogating my father Osmo Bajrović. They are taking him down the stairs of our house and putting him in a police vehicle, a "Zastava 101", Bajrović said.
His father was then taken to the police station in Herceg Novi, where he was never seen again.
"During those days and months, my mother tried to find out why my father was captured and where he was. Then, and to this day, 34 years later, we have no information about which member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) of Herceg Novi captured him and where my father was killed," said Bajrović.
Things are starting to move from a standstill.
It was announced after a meeting held last week in Herceg Novi between local parliament members, the Minister of Culture and the media that matters regarding the erection of a memorial to the victims of deportation, which non-governmental organizations have been demanding since 2011, will finally be moved forward. Tamara Vujovic, representative of the Human Rights Action (HRA), the Center for Women's and Peace Education - Anima and Alen Bajrović.
The majority of the councilor clubs present, as announced by the HRA, expressed their willingness to support the initiative to erect a memorial in front of the Security Center building, which could allow the process to receive formal institutional support through further procedures before the competent municipal bodies and the Herceg Novi Municipal Assembly.
HRA Executive Director Tea Gorjanc Prelevic She told "Vijesti" that she expects that the councilors who attended the meeting will jointly support the initiative to erect a memorial and ensure that it goes through the necessary procedures as soon as possible.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the parliamentary clubs of Democratic Montenegro, Nova List, Democratic Party of Socialists, European Alliance, Civic Movement for Herceg Novi and GP URA.
"I hope that the support will be unanimous until the end, because the memorial to the victims of deportation is not a political or ideological issue, but a human act of respect for the victims and their families, and then a pledge for a future without warfare and war crimes," she said.
The Herceg Novi Municipal Assembly, which has 35 councilors, makes decisions by a majority vote of the councilors present.
She pointed out that at the meeting, they also presented the councilors with the facts from the final verdict in the Deportation case, which determined that it was an unlawful action by the Ministry of the Interior against civilians who were illegally arrested and forcibly taken to the Republika Srpska in BiH to serve as hostages and be recruited into the army of that republic.
"Although this has been legally established, no one's responsibility has been established, which is an expression of an unacceptable political compromise against justice," Gorjanc Prelević pointed out.
Alen Bajrović pointed out that erecting a monument in front of the Herceg Novi Security Center, which was also a collection center for all captured Bosnian-Herzegovinian refugees, and in his words, a "slaughterhouse", would be the right location for erecting a monument.
At the aforementioned meeting with representatives of local political parties, he said, there was a sense of will and support for the construction of a monument that would bear witness to the truth about that war crime.
"The path to truth, criminal responsibility, and a culture of remembrance, and therefore the erection of monuments, is very long and difficult, but I have faith in young and new politicians and institutions that will sooner or later bring all the culprits to justice, mark the culture of remembrance and thus write history," said Bajrović.
The initiative to erect a monument and proclaim a Day of Remembrance was first submitted in 2011 by the non-governmental organizations Human Rights Action (HRA), the Center for Civic Education (CCE), the Center for Women's and Peace Education - Anima, and the then member of the Council for Civic Control of Police Work. Aleksandar Saša Zeković to the leaders of the then Assembly, Government and Municipality of Herceg Novi. They repeated it every year, but to this day it has not been accepted.
No one has been convicted with a final verdict.
No one has been convicted for the deportations. In a 2012 decision by the Higher Court in Podgorica, which was confirmed by the Court of Appeal, nine former members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and State Security were acquitted of crimes against civilians.
In 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Police Directorate issued an apology to the victims of deportation and their families.
Alen Bajrović said that he expects the institutions of the state of Montenegro to primarily find the remains of his father and return them to the family so that they can bury him with dignity.
He called on the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office (SPO) and the Special Prosecutor's Office (SPO) to launch a new, thorough investigation based on evidence, in order to determine responsibility and prosecute the perpetrators and order-givers of the war crime in which more than 100 people of Bosniak ethnicity were killed, emphasizing that this is one of the most serious crimes in the territory of Montenegro in the last 100 years.
The deportation is one of the war crimes cases reopened by the SDT in February 2025.
Gorjanc Prelević pointed out that the memorial is a very important form of compensation to which victims are entitled, in addition to compensation for damage and determination of criminal liability.
She recalled that on December 25, 2008, the Government of Montenegro made a decision on court settlements in 42 proceedings for 193 plaintiffs, among whom were nine surviving victims.
"The Bajrović family did not accept the settlement and has continued the legal battle to this day. Other families of victims who subsequently filed lawsuits have not been compensated because the criminal proceedings have in the meantime led to an acquittal for all defendants, which has led the civil courts to declare all lawsuits time-barred. This is an unfair outcome because it has placed the victims in an unequal position," she pointed out.
The public apology from representatives of state institutions, especially the Ministry of the Interior and the Police Directorate, came, as she pointed out, only three decades after the crime, which shows how slow the process of acknowledging responsibility was, but it was still achieved.
She pointed out that the prosecution of the war crime of deportation was not in accordance with international humanitarian law, and that the damage is partly permanent and irreparable:
"However, in accordance with the War Crimes Investigation Strategy, the State Prosecutor's Office is faced with the responsible task of carefully reviewing this case again, especially from the aspect of command responsibility and in accordance with the recommendations of international organizations."
Memorial only with the consent of the Government
Memorials are erected in accordance with the program for erecting memorials, adopted by the municipal assembly, the capital city and the royal capital, with the prior consent of the state administration body responsible for cultural affairs.
The law states that a memorial cannot be erected until 50 years have passed since the date on which a particular event occurred, unless the Government grants permission to do so.
The Ministry of Culture and Media did not respond whether they support the initiative to erect a memorial to the victims of deportation, nor whether there are legal obstacles related to the Law on Memorials, according to which the Government's consent is required for the erection of memorials before the expiration of 50 years.
The relevant Minister Tamara Vujović previously announced that initiatives to commemorate the victims of deportation and crimes in Kaluđarski laz should receive the support of the Ministry, stating that there is a broad consensus on the need for memorialization, but that a decision by the Herceg Novi Municipal Assembly is awaited.
A public opinion survey in Herceg Novi, conducted in 2024, showed that citizens do not know the facts about the war crime of deportation of Bosnian-Herzegovinian refugees and the court verdicts regarding this event, and that they have a mostly neutral attitude towards the memorial.
A survey, conducted for the needs of HRA in May of that year by the DAMAR agency on a representative sample of adult residents of the Herceg Novi municipality, showed that opinions were divided regarding the erection of a monument to the victims of deportation in front of the Security Center in Herceg-Novi.
The survey showed that there are slightly more people (33,2 percent) who support it than those who oppose such an initiative (30 percent), while the largest number remains neutral (36.6 percent), i.e. has no opinion, because they believe they do not have enough information.
Silence from the coalition For the Future of Herceg Novi
Vice President of the Municipality of Herceg Novi Ivan Otovic andThe New Serbian Democracy (NSD) did not answer why representatives of the coalition "For the Future of Herceg Novi", which is part of the local government, did not attend the meeting, nor whether that coalition supports the erection of a memorial to the victims of deportation, or why it may not support the initiative. The coalition consists of the NSD, the Democratic People's Party, the True Montenegro and the United Montenegro, and has five councilors in the local parliament.
Gorjanc Prelević said that they would not want the non-attendance of the coalition's councilors to be interpreted as a message to the families of the victims or the public, especially because the reasons for their absence were not communicated, even though they were invited to the meeting:
"They will certainly have the opportunity to express their position when the initiative appears in the Municipal Assembly."
She stressed that the initiative is not directed against the city of Herceg Novi or its citizens. On the contrary, she said, she would symbolically present the city as an open city, ready to face difficult issues from its past and overcome them by extending a hand to the victims and their families.
She said that her mother Sejda Krdzalija, whose son Sanin was 22 years old when he was forcibly taken from Herceg Novi, reiterates that she does not blame the city's citizens for the crime, but that a memorial at the place where she last saw her son would have great personal significance to her.
Gorjanc Prelević emphasized that this is especially important for families who are still searching for the remains of their loved ones after their deportation from Montenegro.
"Therefore, supporting this monument is an expression of humanity, a civilizational obligation to pay tribute to the victims against whom the crime was committed," Gorjanc Prelević pointed out.
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