The director of the Association of War Veterans since 1990, Radan Nikolić, told "Vijesta" that the truck carrier from Raška, Milutin Dikić, managed to illegally enroll over 10.000 Montenegrin reservists in the "War Veterans of Raška" and collect over 50.000 euros on that basis.
He lured them by claiming that through membership in that association they would be entitled to the payment of war allowances during the time they were reservists of the Yugoslav Army, during the NATO bombing in 1999.
"We did everything so that the ugly story about the commercial patriotism of Serbian war veterans based in Belgrade does not infect Montenegro. We partially succeeded in that, but it is devastating that Dikić managed to do it", said Nikolić.
He says that the second devastating fact is that among the enrolled "reservists" from Montenegro, there is not a small part of those who know that they received war allowances, as well as those who were not engaged in the military in 1999: "They used forgeries in order to get money from Serbia that was allegedly provided by none other than NATO.
This is an ugly story about an organized fraud in the name of patriotism and all Serbianness, in which individual persons from Beran, Bijelo Polje, Podgorica, Nikšić, whose names are known by the Association, are involved, but for now they will leave it to the competent authorities.
Nikolić claims that the epilogue of that story will certainly be ugly and that the Association will do its best to "expose the fraudsters and recommend them to the court of public and justice".
Dozens of former military reservists, who were mobilized during the NATO bombing, have been besieging the Ministry of Defense for weeks in order to obtain proof of participation in the war, which is a requirement for "war per diems".
At the beginning of this year, information appeared in the Serbian media that following a lawsuit filed by thousands of reservists from the south of Serbia, the Court in Strasbourg issued a verdict in July of last year ordering Serbia to regulate the payment of war allowances to the plaintiffs within six months of the verdict becoming final. and to all other persons who have the right to do so.
That information also caused a stir among former reservists in the north of Montenegro, who rushed to Raška, in neighboring Serbia, to submit a request for the payment of daily allowances.
The former military reservists were asked to submit photocopies of their identity cards and military ID cards and to pay five euros each. In front of a bar in Berane, there were queues for days to hand over documents to one of the alleged representatives, and the reservists pointed to the official website of the NGO "Serbian War Veterans", where it was stated that "the action of collecting documents for the realization of the right to collect war allowances" was being carried out. throughout Serbia.
Strasbourg still without a final decision
In the Ministry of Defense, the crowd for convictions was even greater, after the Serbian media announced the day before yesterday that Serbia will have to pay around 300 million euros in war allowances.
"Blic" announced that the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg rejected the appeal of the State of Serbia and confirmed the first-instance verdict passed earlier in favor of the Association of Veterans Associations of Serbia 90-99. year, who at one time submitted an appeal to that court for the payment of war allowances for participants in the war on the territory of the former FR Yugoslavia.
The paper reported that the ruling is estimated to affect over 100.000 veterans. Just a few hours later, the Serbian Ministry of Justice announced that the Court in Strasbourg on Monday accepted Serbia's request that the petition be considered once again before the Grand Chamber of that court, which consists of 17 judges.
Belgrade does not suit us
Until the day before yesterday, the Ministry of Defense had issued 2.309 certificates of participation in combat operations during 1999, and until then it had received 10.200 requests for the issuance of certificates," the department headed by Milica Pejanović-Đurišić told "Vijesta".
It is estimated that more than 25.000 Montenegrin citizens have the right to a certificate. The Ministry of Defense told "Vijesta" last night that they have not yet received an answer from the Government of Serbia on whether and in what way the judgment of the Court in Strasbourg applies to Montenegrin reservists.
Last month, the Ministry of Defense requested official information from Serbia as to whether the Montenegrin reservists who participated in the 1999 war are entitled to war allowances.
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