Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08PODGORICA248
2008-09-29 11:22:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Podgorica
Cable title:  

MONTENEGRO'S SLOW BUT FORWARD PROGRESS IN WAR CRIMES CASES

Tags:  PGOV PHUM KAWC SOCI XH MW 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PODGORICA 000248 

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DEPT FOR DRL/P AND EUR/SCE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KAWC SOCI XH MW
SUBJECT: MONTENEGRO'S SLOW BUT FORWARD PROGRESS IN WAR CRIMES CASES

REF: (A) PODGORICA 213 (B) 07 PODGORICA 381 (C) 07 PODGORICA 265

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PODGORICA 000248

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL/P AND EUR/SCE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KAWC SOCI XH MW
SUBJECT: MONTENEGRO'S SLOW BUT FORWARD PROGRESS IN WAR CRIMES CASES

REF: (A) PODGORICA 213 (B) 07 PODGORICA 381 (C) 07 PODGORICA 265


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Montenegro is beginning to confront its role
in the Balkan wars of the 1990's. Until recently, it had done
little to address the four pending war crimes cases committed on
its territory (Kaludjerski Laz, Morinj, 1992 deportation of
Muslims, and Bukovica). However, investigations began two years
ago, and now judicial authorities are making some progress. This
summer, the State Prosecutor's Office indicted and detained
those accused in two cases, Kaludjerski Laz and Morinj. A
decision on whether to detain the accused in the Bukovica and
1992 deportation cases should be taken soon. In all four cases,
low and mid-ranking police and army officers have been targeted
while higher ranking police and military officials remain
unscathed. End summary.



Kaludjerski Laz

--------------


2. (SBU) On February 10, 2007, the Higher Court of Bijelo Polje
opened an investigation into the actions of 12 officers and
soldiers of the Podgorica Corps of the Yugoslav Army (JNA)
suspected of killing six ethnic Albanians from Kosovo in
Kaludjerski Laz, near Rozaje, during the 1999 NATO intervention.




3. (SBU) On July 31, the Chief State Prosecutor's Office
indicted eight members of the JNA on charges of committing "war
crimes against a civilian population in Kaludjerski Laz, near
Rozaje in 1999." (Note: The case against the other four under
questioning was dropped. End note.) The indicted include:
Predrag Strugar (49) from Podgorica, Momcilo Barjaktarevic (54),
Petar Labudovic (49),Aco Knezevic (43),Branislav Radnic (42),
Boro Novakovic (31),Miro Bojovic (42) and Radomir Djuraskovic
(45) all from Berane. According to the indictment, between April
18 and May 21, 1999, the accused are charged with murdering 23
Albanian civilians who were trying to escape from the war in
Kosovo. In July 2008 the Higher Court of Bijelo Polje detained
seven of the indictees; Predrag Strugar is believed to be in
Belgrade. (Note: Strugar is the son of JNA General Pavle
Strugar who was sentenced by ICTY in 2005 to seven and a half
years in prison for his involvement in the shelling of

Dubrovnik. End note.) Spokesperson for the Police Directorate,
Tamara Popovic, stated that on August 8, an international arrest
warrant was issued for Strugar.




4. (U) President of the Supreme Court, Vesna Medenica, stated
that the case would be heard before the Special Court for
Organized Crime, Corruption, War Crimes and Terrorism, which was
established at the Higher Court of Bijelo Polje on September 11.
On July 8, defense attorneys Stanko Jelic and Milic Radovanic
filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals objecting to the
indictment and detention. The Court of Appeals rejected the
appeal regarding their detention but still has not ruled about
the indictment. The first hearing in the case is scheduled to be
held in October or November.




5. (U) Defense attorney for the victims' families, Velija Muric,
welcomed the detention order describing it as a "first step for
Montenegro in facing its past." However, he underscored that
high-ranking military personnel, who allegedly masterminded the
atrocity, were not indicted.



Morinj Case

--------------


6. (SBU) From October 1991 to August 1992, some 300 Croatian
prisoners, captured near Dubrovnik, were detained in Morinj (on
Kotor Bay); eight died, allegedly from torture. Croatian Deputy
Chief Prosecutor Antun Kvakan announced in June 2007 that 18
former JNA soldiers were suspected of these crimes, of whom ten
are Montenegrin citizens.




7. (SBU) Montenegrin officials investigating the case have

PODGORICA 00000248 002 OF 004


issued indictments for six of the former soldiers, five of whom
are now in custody. The indictment against them, which was
issued by the Montenegrin State Prosecutor's Office on August
15, alleges torture, inhumane treatment, and violation of the
physical integrity of prisoners brought from Dubrovnik to the
Morinj camp. According to the indictment, the suspects,
identified as Zlatko Tarle (60) from Kotor, Mlapen Govedarica
(53) from Herceg Novi, Ivo Gojnif (46) from Bar,
piro Luhif
(49) from Herceg Novi, and Boro Gligif from Kotor, allegedly
ordered and took part in these crimes from October 3, 1991 until
August 18, 1992. A remaining suspect, Ivo Menzalin (53) from
Kotor, is said to be in Serbia. According to the indictment,
169 prisoners of war and civilians were the victims of war
crimes. The indictment is based on material evidence from 182
witnesses, 170 of which were interviewed in the municipal courts
of Dubrovnik, Split, Zagreb, Sibenik, Rijeka, Koprivnica, Sisak,
and Vukovar during the investigation conducted by judicial
authorities in Croatia. The indictment states that Govedarica
and Gligic worked as investigators in the Morinj camp while the
other indictees served as guards.




8. (U) Montenegrin Chief State Prosecutor, Ranka Carapic, stated
that judicial authorities in Montenegro and Croatia cooperated
on the case in accordance with the Agreement on the Prosecution
of War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and Genocide, signed by
Montenegrin and Croatian Chief State Prosecutors on July 28,

2006. The media reported that Croatian Chief State Prosecutor
Mladen Bajic welcomed the decision of the Montenegrin judiciary
to indict and detain the Morinj suspects. Bajic is quoted as
saying that "it is good news which shows that the wheels of
justice grind slowly."




9. (U) The defense attorneys filed an appeal, noting that it is
unusual and unnecessary to detain suspects who had regularly
responded to all prior summonses.



1992 Deportation of Muslims

--------------


10. (U) In 1992, Bosnian Muslim refugees who fled Bosnia and
settled largely in Bar and Herceg Novi in Montenegro were
deported to Foca, Cajnice, Srebrenica, and Trebinje in Bosnia
and Herzegovina. 83 people were subsequently killed in what
media has alleged was an organized effort by JNA and police
officials, with GoM complicity, to exchange Muslims for arrested
Serbs in Bosnia.




11. (U) At the beginning of 2004, families of the victims filed
a total of 40 civil lawsuits against the GoM asserting that it
was complicit in the deportations and demanding compensation
(with total damages claimed amounting to 45 million euros). To
date, Podgorica's Basic Court has adjudicated 31 cases in favor
of the families. The Basic Court also dismissed three cases,
while another six remain in litigation. The court restricted
damages to 30,000 euros per family (although in two cases, the
Higher Court inexplicably awarded 208,000 instead of 30,000
euros in damages.) However, the GoM has appealed all of the
court's decisions in which damages were awarded, and to date no
compensation has been paid to the victims' families.




12. (U) In February 2006, the Higher Court of Podgorica opened a
criminal investigation against six individuals for their
possible complicity in the deportations. One of the accused is
deceased, but the other five have claimed their innocence. The
accused are: Milisav Markovic, former Assistant to the Minister
of Interior; Milorad Ivanovic, former Head of Police Department
of Herceg Novi; Dusko Bakrac, a State Security officer from
Herceg Novi; Milorad Sljivancanin, former Chief of Police in
Bar; Branko Bujic, Head of the Police Department in Bar; and
Damjan Turkovic, former Assistant to the Head of the Police
Department of Herceg Novi, who died before the investigation
began.




PODGORICA 00000248 003 OF 004



13. (U) The investigative judge, Radomir Ivanovic, heard
testimony from former Montenegrin President Momir BULATOVIC in
September 2007, and in early 2008 interviewed former Montenegrin
State Security chief Bosko Bojovic and former Deputy Minister of
Interior Nikola Pejakovic in Belgrade. In Sarajevo, in April
and May 2008, members of the deportees' families also gave their
testimony.




14. (U) Montenegrin media reported that Prime Minister Milo
Djukanovic and Vice-President of the ruling Democratic Party of
Socialists (DPS) Svetozar Marovic testified on June 21 before
the Higher Court of Podgorica on the case. Djukanovic was also
PM in 1992.




15. (U) On July 1, press reported that the investigative judge
completed the investigation of the five police officers
suspected of the arrest and deportation of Muslim refugees in

1992. The case will now be handed over to the Chief Prosecutor
of Montenegro, who will decide how to proceed. According to
opposition daily Dan on August 24, 2008, the Montenegrin Chief
State Prosecutor's office will enlarge the investigation to
include more people, including a number of police officers from
Pluzine and Pljevlja. On September 16, the daily Republika wrote
that charges will be pressed against Bosko Bojovic, former Head
of the National Security Service, and his deputy Radoje
Radunovic, and the former head of police in Ulcinj, Sreten
Glendza.



Bukovica

--------------


16. (U) Bukovica's 37 villages, surrounded on three sides by
the Republika Srpska, formerly had 1,500 residents, of whom
65-70 percent were Bosniaks or Muslims. According to various
sources, between 1992 and 1993, JNA reservists, backed by
paramilitary troops and local Montenegrin police officers,
expelled dozens of Muslim families (about 221 individuals in
all) from the region's villages, forcing them to flee to
Pljevlja, as well as to Sarajevo and Cajnice in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. According to press reports, eight civilians were
murdered, eleven were abducted and remain unaccounted for, 70
were physically assaulted, and 40 were taken to prison camps.
In addition, eight houses and two mosques were burned. Even
after 15 years, their repatriation has been slow. Of 250
residents in Bukovica today, only about 45 are Muslims and the
region is now
one of the least populated in Montenegro.




17. (U) In early 2007, the Chief State Prosecutor instructed
the prosecutor in Bijelo Polje to start an investigation into
the Bukovica case. On December 11, 2007 the prosecutor in Bijelo
Polje submitted a request to the Higher Court of Bijelo Polje to
open an investigation into seven people suspected of war crimes.
The prosecutor's office failed to give the names of those under
investigation. According to the media, police in Pljevlja have
interogated several people, mostly former army and police
members.




18. (U) On June 13, the investigative judge of the Higher Court
of Bijelo Polje, Milorad Smolovic, stated that "the
investigation in the Bukovica case is complete and now the State
Prosecutor's Office must decide how to proceed." In August
local NGO Nansen Dialogue Center urged state institutions to
speed up the prosecution and suggested that the investigation
should be more focused on former military officers. On
September 3, daily Vijesti" reported that investigative judge
Smolovic planed to travel to Bosnia to investigate further in
Sarajevo and Gorazde. He added that he would seek the assistance
of the Bosnian Ministry of Justice.



GoM to Open Investigative Center for War Crimes

-------------- ---

PODGORICA 00000248 004 OF 004




19. (SBU) It remains unclear when the GoM will take concrete
measures to establish an "investigative center" into possible
war crimes which occurred between 1991 and 2001. Deputy Speaker
of Parliament, Rifat Rastoder, sent a letter in July 2008 to
Prime Minister Djukanovic to remind him that in December 2007,
Parliament tasked the GoM with establishing the center (which is
an obligation under Montenegro's Stabilization and Association
Agreement (SAA) with the EU). At the last session of Parliament
Rastoder also requested that separate funds be appropriated for
the center. The Finance Ministry has promised to allocate funds
for 2009 but has not disclosed the amount.



Comment

--------------


20. (SBU) Addressing war crimes has been a difficult issue for
Montenegro. The recent developments in the Kaludjerski Laz and
Morinj cases represent a step forward, although much remains to
be done. In all the cases, only low or mid-ranking officials
have been investigated and indicted thus far. We are not
certain how far the GoM is willing to push right now. But as it
looks ahead to NATO and EU accession, it will be more likely to
take serious steps to resolve its outstanding war crimes cases
and fulfill specific SAA obligations, such as the establishment
of the investigative center. Eventually, the GoM's desire to be
part of Europe could lead to more dramatic progress, though
likely too late from the perspective of the victims' families.
End Comment.
MOORE