Action for Human Rights (HRA), Center for Civic Education (CGO) and Documenta - Center for Dealing with the Past said, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the shelling of Dubrovnik, that they expect dealing with the past in a systemic way to finally become a priority of the authorities in Montenegro.
"We expect that justice will be provided for the victims of war crimes, court proceedings will be initiated and appropriate verdicts will be passed so that Montenegro can remove the burden of collective responsibility, because as Admiral Vladimir Barović announced in his farewell letter, the aggression of the JNA against Croatia was an act contrary to Montenegrin honor," states the statement signed by the executive directors of HRA and CGO, Tea Gorjanc Prelević and Daliborka Uljarević, and the head of the Center for Coping with the Past - Documenta, Vesna Teršelič.
Prosecution of those responsible for war crimes is, they emphasize, an obligation of the state according to domestic and international law, an urgent task in the EU accession process and a moral debt to the victims.
On this day, 30 years ago, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) carried out the heaviest shelling of Dubrovnik during the siege of that city, which lasted from October 1, 1991 to May 31, 1992.
On December 6, 1991, 19 people lost their lives, and 60 of them were injured and wounded. The old city center, which has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979, was also shelled, and the library of the International University Center was burned. with around 20,000 titles, many valuable old buildings were damaged, as well as Dubrovnik's main street - Stradun. The young Pavo Urban also died on Stradun, camera in hand, whose last 12 photos bear witness to the shelling of the old part of the city. "It is less known that the first victim of the shelling of Dubrovnik, ironically, was the poet Milan Milišić, a Serb by nationality, who died in his home," the statement added.
Most of the JNA reservists who participated in the attack on Dubrovnik, more than 7.000 of them, were from the territory of Montenegro. Historians Šerbo Rastoder and Novak Adžić, recall from non-governmental organizations, wrote that the war operation Dubrovnik "was, by its nature, a conquest, demolition and plunder campaign against the Republic of Croatia, specifically the Dubrovnik area".
Gorjanc Prelevic, Teršelič and Uljarević say that the State Prosecutor's Office of Montenegro, in cooperation with Croatian colleagues, must prosecute the crimes committed during the war in the wider Dubrovnik area, as well as that the governments of Montenegro and Croatia should continue to jointly commemorate the anniversaries of the crimes, "to they wouldn't do it again".
"Although numerous war crimes were undoubtedly committed during the war in the Dubrovnik area and the siege of Dubrovnik - 116 civilians were killed, 194 Croatian fighters and 165 members of the JNA from Montenegro were killed, 443 people were imprisoned in the Morinj (Montenegro) and Bileća (BiH) camps. in inhumane conditions, 33.000 people were exiled, 2071 residential buildings were destroyed and organized looting of private and public property was carried out (data available Documenta), the city of Dubrovnik was without electricity and water for 138 days and in a naval and air blockade for 240 days - Montenegro prosecuted and punished only four people who participated in the abuse of prisoners in the Morinj camp on the soil of Montenegro," the statement added.
Prema public opinion research conducted by the HRA in June 2020, the attack on Dubrovnik was recognized as a war crime by 83 percent of the respondents, but more than half of the respondents said that they were insufficiently informed about the role of Montenegro in the wars of the nineties. Research The CGE showed that half of those who know about the attack on Dubrovnik refuse to answer the question of who is responsible for that attack.
Due to the crimes committed during the siege of Dubrovnik, the Hague Tribunal sentenced only JNA Colonel-General Pavle Strugar from Montenegro to seven and a half years in prison and Admiral Miodrag Jokić from Serbia, who pleaded guilty, to seven years in prison. No one else has been prosecuted before international or domestic courts for war crimes committed against the old city center and the wider Dubrovnik area.
The then President of the Republic of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, in 2000, as the NGO reminds, expressed regret "to all the citizens of the Republic of Croatia, especially Dubrovnik and Dubrovnik-Neretva County, for all the pain, all the suffering and all the material losses caused to them by any representative Montenegro as part of the JNA in those tragic events". "Nine years earlier, the Government of the Socialist Republic of Montenegro, headed by Đukanović, together with its presidency headed by Momir Bulatović, announced through the then few public media, the daily newspaper Pobjeda and Television of Montenegro, that the Croats intended to conquer Bok Kotor and with such war propaganda contributed significantly to the massive response to the mobilization," the NGO points out.
"However, not all Montenegrins were in favor of the war, not even those in the JNA. We remember the resistance of Rear Admiral Krsto Đurović and Admiral Vladimir Barović, as well as the song of the Montenegrin liberals led by Slavko Perović from the protest in Cetinje, 'From the Lovcen fairy, forgive us, Dubrovnik! ' At that time, there was a very active anti-war movement in Montenegro, which consisted of numerous politicians, professors and students, including those who are still active in public life, Rade Bojović, Nebojša Medojević, Džemal Perović, Žarko Rakčević, Prince Nikola Petrović Njegoš and others," the statement added.
Gorjanc Prelevic, Teršelič and Uljarević pointed out that there is no indication that the State Prosecutor's Office of Montenegro has ever seriously and on its own initiative investigated the crimes on the Dubrovnik battlefield, even though the European Union expert, Mauricio Salustro, expressly recommended them to do so back in 2014, and even though Ivica Stanković, the former supreme state prosecutor, theoretically planned this with the Strategy on War Crimes Prosecution in 2015.
"It is not known whether the Special State Prosecutor's Office undertook investigative actions regarding the information, which HRA received on February 26, 2021, from the State Attorney's Office of the Republic of Croatia, that they have several cases pending against Montenegrin citizens and persons residing in Montenegro, the defendants for war crimes committed in Dubrovnik during 1991 and 1992. The head of the Special State Prosecutor's Office in Montenegro, which is responsible for prosecuting war crimes, for the last six years has been Milivoje Katnić, who at the time of the siege of Dubrovnik was a JNA officer exercised power in the conquered Cavtat," states the joint statement.
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the shelling of Dubrovnik, Action for Human Rights, Documenta and the Center for Civic Education supported the online campaign "Dubrovnik 1991 - Monuments in the crosshairs" implemented by the SENSE Center for Transitional Justice from Pula.
Bonus video:
