The Center for Civic Education (CCE), on the occasion of the anniversary of the crime in Bukovica, recalled the suffering of the population in this area for which no one has been held accountable to this day. The lack of adequate punishment, they point out, leaves a lasting sense of injustice and highlights the institutional failure to protect victims.
"Bukovica is a rural area in the Pljevlja municipality, about 60 kilometers from Pljevlja, and until the beginning of the 90s it was predominantly populated by Bosniaks and Muslims. From 1992 to 1995, ethnic cleansing was carried out in Bukovica. According to available and documented data, 24 villages were displaced, and around 90 families, with approximately 270 members, were expelled or fled. Six civilians were killed, two people committed suicide due to the consequences of torture and abuse, 11 people were abducted and taken to prison in Čajniče, and close to 70 civilians were subjected to physical torture, including severe abuse and rape. At least eight houses were burned down, as well as a mosque in the village of Planjsko, and numerous households were looted and destroyed," the statement signed by CCE program associate Maja Marinović states.
They remind that no one has been convicted of these crimes in Montenegro.
"The only case that reached court - the murder of Džafer Đog - was qualified as a murder committed out of base motives and national hatred, and not as a war crime. The convicted Majoš Vrećo was later amnestied, while his accomplice Dragomir Krvavac was acquitted due to insanity."
The CCE adds that the request to initiate an investigation was submitted by the Higher State Prosecutor only at the end of 2007 to the Higher Court in Bijelo Polje, and the investigation was completed in 2010.
"An indictment for crimes against humanity was filed against five members of the reserve force of the Yugoslav Army - brothers Radmilo and Radiša Đuković, Slobodan Cvetković, Milorad Brković and Đorđije Gogić and two members of the reserve force of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Montenegro - Slaviša Svrkota and Radoman Šubarić. The official justification for the presence of military and police structures, including paramilitaries, was border guarding and searching for hidden weapons," the CCE announced.
After several years of proceedings, all the accused were finally acquitted, while the issue of command responsibility and possible order-givers was never the subject of an investigation, CCE reminds.
"In 2008, the state of Montenegro implicitly admitted responsibility by signing a court settlement and paying around five million euros in compensation to 247 people considered victims or their family members. This effectively shifted responsibility from the criminal to the financial level. At the same time, the prosecution described the reasons for the abandonment of the Bosniak-Muslim population of this area as a result of 'systematic abuse of the Muslim population in Bukovica, thus forcing them to leave their homes'. On the other hand, the defense argued that the abandonment of the population was a continuous process of economic migration from the remote cattle-breeding area, which is denied by numerous testimonies. Relevant court files and documentation on these events are presented in full in the CCE publication "The Process of Dealing with the Past in Montenegro – The Bukovica Case".
CCE assesses that the latest activities of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SSO), including the adoption of the Action Plan, as well as the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code from June 2024, which enabled the use of evidence collected before the Hague Tribunal and the International Residual Mechanism, represent an important, albeit belated, step forward compared to previous institutional passivity.
"It remains to be seen whether this is an expression of true commitment to justice or just an attempt to score extra points on the road to the EU, given that the prosecution of war crimes is part of the final benchmarks for Chapter 23. It should also be borne in mind that the passage of time further complicates the implementation of justice, as key witnesses and victims die and memories fade. The crime in Bukovica, as well as other suffering during the 1990s, is still insufficiently present in the education system. The consequences of such an approach are also visible at the level of knowledge of citizens, as well as young people, about the 1990s: less than half of the population (49,7%) believes that war crimes occurred on the territory of Montenegro, and youth research shows that 38,6% believe there were, of which 42,5% know about the crime in Bukovica".
CCE recalls that the rule of law implies consistent and impartial prosecution of all war crimes, regardless of time distance or political context. Effective accountability and fostering a culture of remembrance remain prerequisites for strengthening trust in institutions and building a functional democratic society.
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