The Youth Initiatives for Human Rights in Serbia (YIHR Serbia) and in Montenegro (YIHR CG) recalled the responsibility of the state institutions of those countries for the crime in Štrpci and called for the determination of the full responsibility of the perpetrators and those who ordered it.
They reminded that today marks the 28th anniversary of that crime, when members of the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS), at the train station in Štrpci, took out and killed 20 passengers, civilians of non-Serb nationality, from the train traveling between Belgrade and Bar.
"YIHR Serbia and YIHR Montenegro remind the responsibility of the state institutions of Serbia and Montenegro for this planned war crime against the citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and demand that the full responsibility of not only the perpetrators but also those who ordered this crime be established to the end, as well as that investigations and court proceedings speed up in both countries," the statement said.
YIHR said that the families of the victims in Serbia are still discriminated against regarding the status of civilian victims of the war, while in Montenegro, apart from Nebojsa Ranisavljević, no one else has been prosecuted.
They recalled that on May 20, 2002, Velija Murić, the lawyer of the victims' families, filed criminal charges against 14 high-ranking former officials and forwarded them to the federal state prosecutor, the Public Prosecutor's Office of Serbia, the senior prosecutor in Bijelo Polje and the state prosecutor of Montenegro.
"Most of these officials of Serbia and Montenegro have passed away in the meantime, but the judicial authorities of Serbia and Montenegro are still obliged to investigate and fully shed light on the case of the kidnapping in Štrpci", YIHR said.
To date, the remains of only four victims have reportedly been found.
"The body of Halil Zupčević was found at the end of 2009 on the shore of Lake Perućac, and the remains of Rasim Ćorić, Jusuf Rastoder and Ilijaz Ličina were found in the same lake in 2010, while the search for the other victims is still ongoing," the statement said.
YIHR reminded that only Ranisavljević and Mićo Jovičić have been convicted of that crime so far.
It is stated that the crimes in Štrpci are currently being prosecuted before the courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Serbia.
"The trial of ten defendants is ongoing before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the commander of the Višegrad VRS Brigade, Luka Dragičević, and the commander of the Intervention Company in the Višegrad Brigade, Boban Inđić. In mid-December 2019, the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina filed an indictment against Milan Lukić for this war crime," YIHR said.
They stated that the War Crimes Department of the High Court in Belgrade is conducting proceedings against five members of the Višegrad Brigade of the VRS for the crime committed in Štrpci, who are being charged as direct perpetrators.
Esad Kapetanović, Ilijaz Ličina, Fehim Bakija, Sećo Softić, Rifat Husović, Halil Zupčević died in the crime.
Senad Đečević, Jusuf Rastoder, Ismet Babačić, Tomo Buzov, Adem Alomerović, Muhedin Hanić, Safet Preljević, Džafer Topuzović also died.
Among the victims are Rasim Ćorić, Fikret Memović, Fevzija Zeković, Nijazim Kajević, Zvjezdan Zuličić and one unknown person.
The victims were from Serbia and Montenegro, from Belgrade, Prijepolje, Bijelo Polje and Podgorica. The oldest victim was 59, and the youngest 16.
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