Milatović: On this day in 1993, innocent people were kidnapped from a train and brutally murdered just because of their names

Justice and truth remain a permanent obligation of society and institutions, because without facing the past there is no sincere reconciliation or a safer future, said the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović.

On the occasion of the 32nd anniversary of the crime in Štrpci, he said that it was one of the most painful testimonies of the mindlessness in this region.

Milatović said that on this day in 1993, innocent people were kidnapped from a train and brutally killed just because of their names.

Their families, he added, have been carrying the burden of pain and uncertainty for more than three decades, while the remains of some of the victims have not yet been found.

"Justice and truth remain a permanent obligation of society and institutions, because without facing the past there can be no sincere reconciliation or a safer future," Milatović assessed.

He said that one of the important steps towards that justice would be a unified position of all MPs in the Parliament and their support for amendments to the Law on Veterans' and Disability Protection.

"In order to systematically recognize the status of civilian victims of war for the first time and ensure their social protection, as well as fulfill the promises of the Government, which publicly assumed the obligation to regulate one-time compensation for the families of civilian victims of war," added Milatović.

According to him, this would correct decades of injustice towards families who have waited too long for the state to recognize their suffering and provide them with the rights they have been denied.