The case of the Klapuh family: Most of the perpetrators of war crimes in Plužine did not serve their sentences

Although we celebrate the International Day for the Protection of Human Rights, even more than 30 years is not enough for the fulfillment of certain basic rights. On July 6, 1992, in Plužine, Hasan, Ferida and Sena Klapuh from Foča were killed. Five perpetrators of war crimes were collectively sentenced to more than 80 years in prison, but most were never arrested or served their sentences.

"They were members of the Dragan Nikolić detachment - Army of the Republika Srpska, who, according to the indictment, agreed for money to transport the Klapuh family: mother, father and daughter, that is, Hasan, Sena and Ferida, from Foča to Montenegro, via Plužine. At the dam Mratinje near Plužine, they were taken out of the car and shot to death and pushed down the dam and their bodies were later found," says the director of Human Rights Action (HRA), Tea Gorjanc Prelevic.

In 1996, the Higher Court in Podgorica sentenced Janko Janjić, Radomir Kovac, Zoran Simović and Zoran Vuković to 20 years in prison each, and their helper Vidoje Golubović to eight months. The trial was attended only by Golubović, who was the only one to decide the sentence, while the others were tried in absentia because they were on the run, and this is still the case today, at least as far as Montenegro is concerned.

"I can tell you that until now, or the answers were missing in the specific case of the Republic of Serbia when there was a request for extradition, and we actually received one answer from Bosnia and Herzegovina where they quote the European Convention differently, they believe that the person must give consent..." , said State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice Sreten Jakić.

A member of the victims' family, Ferid Klapuh, has been waiting for justice for more than 30 years. After all, he states that it is unlikely that he will ever reach her.

"I got the impression that nobody will do anything. So it's all something selective, unsystematic, very poorly connected, so I'm lost in it," he says.

In addition to the lack of interstate cooperation, Action for Human Rights points to another worrying aspect in this particular case:

"The remains of three family members were buried at the expense of the Municipality of Nikšić, back in the 90s, in such a way that they were completely unmarked, extremely undignified," says Tea Gorjanc Prelević.

This is exactly how Ferid perceives the fact that the officials approached him only in 2015, when something was supposed to be built on the place where the remains of his family are supposed to be.

"They called me, even the ambassador of Montenegro at one time and begged me to replace them. I said I won't until you complete your case against the murderers, you tried them, arrest them. You see, I don't even want to initiate that, until I come in together with the state. I need identification first to make that that's it," he said.

The authorities promise to take concrete steps:

"The Ministry of Justice will soon, in the near future, make contact with the surviving members of the Klapuh family and somewhere we can try to find a way for our country to satisfy the minimum of transitional justice," Jakić said.

Although the case of the Klapuh family represents the first war crime that has been legally judged, it is not the only one in which justice is still not served.