Representatives of several non-governmental organizations asked the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, to erect a memorial in Herceg Novi, and to establish at the state level a Day of Remembrance for the victims of the deportation of Bosnian-Herzegovinian refugees from Montenegro in 1992.
As announced by the Center for Civic Education (CEO), the meeting with Milatović was attended by the representatives of the Action for Human Rights (HRA), Tea Gorjanc Prelević, the CEO, Daliborka Uljarević and Tamara Milaš, and the Center for Women's and Peace Education ANIMA, Ervina Dabižinović.
"The meeting was also attended by Alen Bajrović, whose father Osman was illegally arrested in his house in Bijela and deported along with the others. His remains, as well as the remains of many other deported refugees, have not been found to this day. As a result of the deportations, at least 54 people died persons and today, on the International Day of Missing Persons, we appeal to the authorities to finally start acting in the direction of establishing justice for the families who, even after three decades, do not know where the remains of their loved ones are," the announcement states.
The president expressed special interest in the personal and family story of Bajrović.
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"The non-governmental organizations HRA, CGO and ANIMA have been persistently advocating for the memorialization of the victims of this war crime since 2011, when together with the then researcher of human rights violations, Aleksandar Saša Zeković, they sent these initiatives to the state for the first time, since the families of the victims from Bosnia and Herzegovina expressed their desire for a memorial," they added.
They said and expect Milatović to take a historically important step and actively support these initiatives.
"We remind you that last year, that is, in 2022, for the first time, ministers from the Government of Montenegro attended the memorial gathering in Herceg Novi - Minister of Internal Affairs Filip Adžić, Minister of Justice Marko Kovač, Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Admir Adrović, and Minister without portfolio Adrijan Vuksanović, as well as the director of the Police Administration, Zoran Brđanin," said the CGO.
Then, as they say, after 30 years, the members of the victims' families heard for the first time an apology from police officials and the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the illegal arrest and handing over of refugees to the army of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This also fulfilled one of the three initiatives that HRA, CGO, ANIMA and Aleksandar Zeković have advocated for more than a decade.
"The Minister of the Interior, Filip Adžić, then publicly supported the remaining two initiatives of non-governmental organizations to erect a memorial at the gathering place and commemorate the day of remembrance for the victims of this war crime. However, to this day we have no feedback on what Adžić did to fulfill his promises ", the announcement reads.
Also, according to them, the Herceg Novi Municipal Assembly put the initiative to erect a memorial to the victims of deportation to a vote only once, in June 2015 at the suggestion of Dragan Šimrak from SDP.
They added that "only" three councilors voted for the initiative, Milica Berberović (SDP), Dragan Šimrak (SDP) and Jovana Šijaković (Izbor).
"This year 2023, the commemoration of the 31st anniversary of the crime of Deportation was attended by the Prime Minister of Montenegro Dritan Abazović and his advisor Đorđe Radulović, the Minister of Justice Marko Kovač, the Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Admir Adrović, the Deputy Prime Minister for Regional Development and the Minister of Capital Investments Ervin Ibrahimović (President of the Bosniak Party), State Secretary in the Ministry of Internal Affairs Mersudin Gredić, Acting Head of the Security Center in Herceg Novi Slobodan Đokić, and State Secretary in the Ministry of Defense Krsto Perović. The manager of Herceg Novi municipality, Dušan Vukić, was also present," they stated.
Government officials told journalists, among other things, that "Montenegro is no longer running away from the past, but is facing it."
The representatives of the mentioned non-governmental organizations said that they expect that Montenegro, by erecting a monument and establishing the Day of Remembrance, will pay due respect to the innocent victims of the crime of Deportation, and thus clearly express its determination to never again allow anyone to be deprived of their freedom and risk death just because of their ethnic or religious affiliation.
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