HRA: Authorities in BiH to take measures to bring to justice Vuković and Kovač, who were convicted of the murder of the Klapuh family

Human Rights Action (HRA) expects the competent institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to take measures to bring to justice Zoran Vuković and Radomir Kovač, who were convicted in Montenegro for the murder of the Klapuh family in 1996, the non-governmental organization (NGO) announced.

The HRA reminded that today marks 33 years since the murder of three civilians, Hasan, Ferida and their daughter Sena Klapuh, who fled to Montenegro from war-torn Foča in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992.

They pointed out that members of the Klapuh family were brutally murdered by members of the Army of Republika Srpska (RS) on July 6, 1992, near Pluzine, on the Obrad Cicmila bridge over the Piva River.

"HRA expects the competent institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina to take measures to bring Zoran Vuković and Radomir Kovač to justice, who were convicted of this crime in Montenegro in 1996," the statement said.

HRA stated that they also support the appeal of the councilor of the Podgorica City Council, Aleksandar Zeković, that the remains of the victims be handed over to their family members immediately after identification, with appropriate state honors.

"Hasan Klapuh, his wife Ferida and their daughter Sena were killed by four members of the "Dragan Nikolić" detachment of the RS Army, who had previously agreed to safely transport them from BiH to Montenegro for a monetary reward," the HRA said.

They added that for this murder, qualified as a war crime against the civilian population, Janko Janjić, Radomir Kovač, Zoran Simović and Zoran Vuković were sentenced in Montenegro in 1996 to 20 years in prison each, while their accomplice Vidoje Golubović was sentenced to eight months for failing to report the crime and the perpetrators.

"Vidoje Golubović was the only one who served the sentence. The others were tried in absentia because they were on the run," the HRA said.

As they said, the court determined that when the defendants crossed the border and arrived near Plužine, near the Mratinje dam on the Piva River, they took the victims out of the vehicle, shot them, and pushed them off a bridge about 100 meters high.

HRA emphasized that autopsy findings showed that Ferida and Sena were alive for some time after being wounded.

"Despite the rapid discovery of this brutal crime, justice was never served – the four convicted in absentia did not serve a single day of their sentence. Simović and Janjić have since passed away, while Kovač and Vuković still live freely in Foča today," the statement said.

It is stated that BiH should take measures to prosecute them, because their participation in the crime was clearly proven before the Montenegrin court, supported by material evidence.

"There are no legal obstacles to this, as the European Convention on the Transfer of Proceedings in Criminal Matters (Art. 8) allows BiH to take over this case and retry them, since the two are citizens of BiH," the HRA pointed out.

The NGO said that Kovač and Vuković can only be brought to justice by being retried in BiH, because in BiH they cannot serve the sentence imposed based on the trial in absentia in Montenegro, and BiH cannot extradite its citizens convicted of war crimes to Montenegro.

This year, HRA also published the text "Ne bis in idem in the context of competing international jurisdictions", in which legal experts Amir Čengić and Lejla Terzimehić analyzed the legal conditions for the enforcement of the final judgment in this case and proposed concrete solutions for the realization of justice.

As they said, in 1992, the Municipality of Nikšić temporarily buried the remains of the victims near Trebjesa, without grave markers.

"After years of appeals by the son and brother of the victims, Ferid Klapuh, as well as the initiative of the civil sector of Montenegro, the first concrete steps towards exhumation, identification and dignified burial have finally been taken. On June 4, 2025, the Commission for Missing Persons of Montenegro, at the request of the Institute for Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina, removed bone samples from the temporary cemetery in Trebjesa for DNA analysis," the statement said.

It is reported that the samples have been sent to the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) laboratory in The Hague, and the results are expected soon.

It is recalled that the remains of three people were found at the location - two women and one man - and were transferred to the Clinical Center of Montenegro, where they will be kept until the DNA analysis is completed.

"A dignified farewell to the remains of the Klapuh family members from Montenegro would be of importance to Montenegrin society as a whole. Recognition and respect for the victims of the Klapuh family is part of the process of achieving justice and a responsible attitude of the community towards crimes from the past," the statement said.