For half a year, the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) will not answer whether it will seek evidence related to Montenegrin citizens, in the proceedings initiated by the Croatian Prosecutor's Office 15 years ago against 10 former officers of the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA).
"The hardest thing for me was when I saw toys hidden behind the boiler in a house... Some people were buried so shallow that their hands came out when it started to rain..."
This is part of the poignant testimony of one of the former JNA reservists Marjan Šantić, at a meeting organized by Action for Human Rights (HRA) in 2022, and who, under the threat of killing his family, went to the Dubrovnik battlefield in 1991.
He is just one of the many who, by choice or force, set off from Montenegro to attack Dubrovnik, which began on October 1, 1991. The war took place from Prevlaka and Konaval to the wider region of Dubrovnik. The military formations of the JNA were commanded by the now deceased general Pavle Strugar, later convicted in The Hague. The siege of Dubrovnik lasted until May 26, 1992. 116 civilians, 194 Croatian veterans and 165 members of the JNA from Montenegro were killed.
The Montenegrin judiciary still does not react to these war events from the beginning of the nineties.
How unprepared Montenegro is to face the past is also illustrated by the fact that for half a year we could not get data on whether there is a possibility of the possible handing over of evidence to Montenegro, related to Montenegrin citizens, in the procedure that was initiated 15 years ago. against 10 former JNA officers and whether the Prosecutor's Office of Montenegro plans to request that evidence from Croatia. The SDT, which is responsible for war crimes, is ignoring our requests for information about this process. Even after three attempts, in May, September and October, to get information on whether the prosecution was even interested in this procedure, we did not receive any response.
At the end of 2009, the Prosecutor's Office in Dubrovnik initiated proceedings against 10 officers of the former JNA - Jevrem Cokić, Branko Stanković, Processing of Vičić, Radovan Komara, Vladimir Kovačević, Milan Zeca, Zoran Gvozdenović and now deceased Milan Ružimovski, Pavla Strugar and Miodrag Jokić, due to the criminal acts of war crimes against the civilian population and the destruction of cultural and historical monuments.
According to Croatian regulations, a sentence of up to 20 years in prison can be imposed for these crimes.
According to information from the court in Split, the accused allowed the shelling of populated areas, killing civilians, imprisoning, abusing and forcing civilians to flee, demolishing civil, cultural, religious and economic buildings, looting and burning.
According to information from the Split prosecutor's office, Kovačević and Gvozdenović are also accused of having ordered an artillery, mortar and grenade attack on the area of Dubrovnik, the core of the Old Town, as well as on the area from Ponta Oštro to Trsteni, targeting Cavtat, Župa Dubrovačka, Zaton, Trsteno, hotel "Croatia", hotel "Belvedere", hotel "Plakir", "Tirena" and "Minčeta".
Among the accused two Montenegrins, extradition is not possible
Among the accused are two Montenegrins - Radovan Komar and Vladimir Kovačević, the so-called Rambo. The court in Split confirmed to us that Kovačević and Komar were born in Nikšić, and that they are both of unknown whereabouts.
In October 2011, the prosecution in Split took over the proceedings, which became responsible for the Dubrovnik area. The case was only assigned to the judge of the County Court in Split in May 2022 Ankica Boban, and national and international warrants were issued against the defendants in September and October 2022. However, that's where it stopped. The trial has not started yet, because the court cannot locate the defendants.
The court in Split told us that they tried several times to reach the defendants, through international legal aid, and that they managed to get information only for the Macedonian Milan Ružimovski, who died in the meantime, so the proceedings against him were suspended.
"Furthermore, other actions will be taken in order to create the conditions for determining the hearing before the County Court in Split", the court replied.
From that court they say that the proceedings are also against Serbs of Zdravković merged with this case, also due to accusations of war crimes against the civilian population. According to information from the Split court, he is accused of ordering the destruction of property, i.e. the burning of more than 1991 houses and other buildings in the vicinity, in October 90, as a major and commander of the third motorized battalion of the fifth motorized brigade of the former JNA, after the capture and occupation of Ćilipo. .
However, even the court in Split did not clarify why they do not hand over the evidence related to our citizens to the Montenegrin prosecution, or why they do not try them in absentia. It is also unknown whether the competent Croatian authorities had any communication with Montenegro about this case.
Their extradition to Croatia is certainly not possible, because the bilateral Extradition Treaty between Montenegro and Croatia does not allow the extradition of their own citizens accused of war crimes.
Marković: We will change the agreements
The report of the European Commission (EC) for 2024 emphasizes that Montenegro must continue to improve the previous results in the domestic prosecution of war crimes by applying a proactive approach for effective investigation, prosecution, trial and punishment of war crimes in accordance with international law and standards:
"Including full cooperation with the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts, and ensuring access to justice and reparations for victims".
In June of this year, the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office (VDT) adopted a new Strategy for the investigation of war crimes for the period 2024-2027. In order to ensure effective implementation, the EC notes, Montenegro should improve proactive research and prosecution of war crimes, in accordance with international humanitarian law.
The Strategy mentions revision of existing and signing of new agreements with countries in the region as one of the priority goals.
Spokesperson of the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office Marina Raković states that the revision of the existing Agreement on Cooperation and Prosecution of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide with the State Attorney's Office of the Republic of Croatia is in progress.
"We expect that it will be concluded in the near future," said the prosecutor's office, which he manages Milorad Marković, without specifying what those changes refer to.
The VDT recently concluded an agreement on cooperation with the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and similar agreements were announced with Serbia and Croatia, in the area of support for witnesses, victims and victims, for their more effective participation in criminal proceedings for war crimes.
We have not received an explanation from the VDT either, why we have not been able to get any information from the SDT for more than half a year about the proceedings being conducted before the court in Split.
In the report on the implementation of the Strategy for the Investigation of War Crimes of the State Prosecutor's Office of Montenegro from 2021 to 2022, prepared by HRA, it is recalled that on December 6, 1991, the Old Town, under the protection of UNESCO, was illegally shelled, and that many buildings were damaged , and that the library of the International University Center with about 20.000 titles was burned:
"The old town was exposed to an artillery attack for more than ten and a half hours, and on that occasion 19 people lost their lives, while 60 of them were wounded."
They point out that apart from the shelling of Dubrovnik in December 1991, the Hague Prosecutor's Office did not investigate other crimes committed by members of the JNA during the six months of the conquest of the wider Dubrovnik area:
"In that period, 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 deported, 2.071 homes were destroyed facility and systematically looted private and public property. The city of Dubrovnik was without electricity and water for 138 days, under naval and air blockade".
These data, they emphasize, indicate the commission of numerous war crimes, but the SDT for seven years of implementation of the Strategy did not establish any responsibility for them on the part of Montenegrin citizens, nor did it raise the issue of command responsibility of the civil authorities.
Katnić under investigation
This summer, the SDT launched an investigation against the former chief special prosecutor Milivoj Katnić, who is suspected of having committed a war crime against the civilian population in the area of Cavtat during 1992.
"The defendant is accused of having acted inhumanely towards certain civilians of Croatian nationality in the territory of Croatia, Municipality of Konavli, Cavtat, as an officer of the JNA, acting contrary to the provisions of the Geneva Convention, by attacking, torturing, physically injuring them, and insulting human dignity and committed violence against their mental well-being", SDT announced at the time.
Strugar and Jokić sentenced in The Hague
Montenegro, with the amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CPC), from June this year, can also use those collected in The Hague as evidence for conducting war crimes proceedings.
The International Court for War Crimes in The Hague dealt only with the most serious crimes, while no one was held accountable for other crimes.
Admiral Miodrag Jokić was sentenced in The Hague to seven years in prison for participating in the destruction of Dubrovnik, while General Pavle Strugar, as his superior, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for not preventing those attacks.
In the judgment against Strugar, from January 2005, it is written, among other things, that in October 1991, under the pretext of false news that "30.000 Ustasha are ready to attack Boka Kotorska", the JNA and the Montenegrin police from Montenegro launched an attack on the area of Dubrovnik .
In that verdict, it is written that it was not proven that Strugar, as the commander of the Second Operational Group, ordered the shelling of the Old Town in Dubrovnik, but that he was obliged and could have prevented it. Jokić admitted guilt for the attack and its consequences and settled with the prosecutor's office in The Hague.
Among the evidence in this proceeding was the Directive for the attack, according to which Lieutenant General Jevrem Cokić ordered the attack on Dubrovnik.
He signed that Directive from September 1991 and was approved by the General of the JNA Blagoje Adžić.
The Hague Tribunal also accused Captain Vladimir Kovačević of the attack on Dubrovnik. Ramba, but was released due to treatment by the decision of the Tribunal. Subsequently, the indictment against him was dismissed before the Special Court in Belgrade in 2007, due to his health condition.
Admiral of the JNA Milan Zec was acquitted of the charges before the court in The Hague.
In Montenegro, so far only four people who participated in the abuse of prisoners in the JNA camp in Morinje have been punished, while the issue of command responsibility has never been raised.
During the war in Dubrovnik, prisoners were tortured in camps in Morinje in Boka Kotorska and Bileća in Herzegovina. Most of the JNA reservists, who participated in the attack on Dubrovnik, were from the territory of Montenegro, and less from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Đukanović's chessboard, Marović's rat for peace
About 30.000 people were mobilized in Montenegro for the attack on Dubrovnik, who were told, among other things, that Croatia would attack Montenegro.
The Prime Minister of Montenegro was then Milo Djukanovic, and the president, now deceased, Momir Bulatović. Before the attack, they said that Croatia would attack Boka Kotorska, calling for war, and Đukanović also pointed out that he "hates chess because of the checkerboard", the symbol of the Croatian flag.
The then general secretary of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), and now a fugitive from justice Svetozar Marovic he called the attack on Dubrovnik a "war for peace".
In the Montenegrin textbooks for the 4th grade of high school, one sentence talks about the JNA attacking Dubrovnik, while there is no word about who actually made up that army, nor do the teachers mention it.
It seems that neither the Montenegrin nor the Croatian investigative and judicial bodies, nor the politicians, are interested in these procedures ever being started and completed. However, war crimes do not expire, so there remains hope that the judiciary in the region will begin to cooperate and bring the perpetrators of the unfortunate events from the beginning of the nineties to justice, so that the citizens of both countries can live without the heavy burden of the past.
Bazdan: The horrors of war gave birth to four honorable Montenegrins
"As for the majority of Montenegrins who were around Dubrovnik at that time, with their behavior they canceled the best that was nurtured in the Montenegrin cultural identity for centuries through 'bravery and heroism'", assesses the Croatian human rights fighter Zdravko Bazdan.
It seems, he adds, that the Montenegrins then forgot what Bishop Rade told them through Bishop Danilo:
"For whom the law lies in the mace, his tracks reek of inhumanity..."
But even in those horrors of war, he points out, he witnessed bright examples - the lieutenant colonel from Bar Gojko Đurašić, late reserve captain Milivoje Vukmanović, a reserve lieutenant from Bar Milenko Nikočević. He explains that all three were stationed in Mokošica, a part of Dubrovnik.
"To this honorable group I add a B.Sc. Eng. reserve lieutenant from Bar Žarko Grković, whom I unfortunately did not meet, but I know that he saved three human lives, three Croatian reservists, at the price of being killed by 'his own people' because of it," says Bazdan.
"Those Armageddon events gave birth to four honorable Montenegrins. In my opinion, they represent the pride of the Montenegrin people and - a bridge of brotherhood that still unites our three suffering nations", says Bazdan.
Bazdan was acting head of Civil Protection and head of the human rights section of the Rijeka Dubrovnik Red Cross Committee, which was founded during the war in Mokošica on the day of the entry of the JNA, by a few residents of that settlement. At the time of the attack on Dubrovnik, this retired professor and peace activist distinguished himself by protecting the rights of all residents of the then-occupied territories.
Bonus video:
