On Thursday December 25, 2008, setting a regional precedent, the Montenegrin Government of Prime Minister Mr. Milo Đukanović took another step ahead into European Human Rights standards by announcing that the State of Montenegro would compensate for a total amount of €4.13 million the survivors and their families, as well as the families of deceased victims, in 42 forced repatriation cases of Bosnian Muslim refugees during the 1992-1995 Bosnian Civil War.

December’s announcement originally refers to an alleged number of 83 Bosnian citizens [1] who had obtained the refugee status in Montenegro after fleeing the civil war in their native country, and who were unlawfully arrested in Podgorica, Herceg-Novi, Bar and Ulcinj from May 15 to June 6, 1992 upon order of late Pavle Bulatović, former Montenegrin Interior Minister for a short period of time before he moved to Belgrade in 1992 to become Yugoslav Interior Minister [2]. Pavle Bulatović was a close to Radovan Karadžić and General Ratko Mladić, as well as to former Montenegrin President Momir Bulatović (1990-1998; Yugoslav Prime Minister 1998-2000), a follower of Slobodan Milošević who was kicked out in 1998 of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) by the pro-European faction led by Party’s Vice-President Mr. Milo Đukanović [3].

Some of the arrested Bosnian refugees were killed on the territory of Montenegro by Republika Srpska (RS) Special Police forces brigade, but most of them were transferred to RS and later genocided in detention camps, notably the sadly notorious Foča concentration camp.

In a logical continuation with the recognition of the State responsability in these 42 forced repatriation cases, today, this Monday January 19, 2009, the Department for Combating Organised Crime, Corruption, Terrorism and War Crimes of the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment against nine former Interior Ministry officials, suspected of involvement in 79 cases of illegal repatriations in 1992, charging them with “criminal act of war crime against civilian population” pursuant to Article 142, para. 1, of the Criminal Code of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, for “having executed the orders of the late former Interior Minister Pavle Bulatović” and “having forcibly repatriated 79 persons and handed them over to Internal Affairs Secretariats in Sokolac, Srebrenica and Foča, as well as to the Correctional Facility in Foča,” in violation of international laws on the status and treatment of refugees.
Today’s indictment concluded a difficult investigation procedure initially launched on February 18, 2006, which was largely hindered by Momir Bulatović’s refusal to appear for questioning in the case.

Motivating its request by “the gravest circumstances under which the criminal act of war crime was committed as well as due to consequences of this criminal act”, the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office also filed a motion requesting custody of indictees, pursuant to Article 148, para. 1, item 4, of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The nine indictees are:
 Boško Bojović, as Assistant Interior Minister for State Security Issues at the time of the facts;
 Milisav Marković, as Assistant Interior Minister for Public Safety;
 Radoje Radunović, as Sector Head for State Security in Herceg-Novi;
 Duško Bakrač, as Operations Officer for State Security;
 Božidar Stojović, as Department Head for State Security in Ulcinj;
 Milorad Ivanović, as Head of the Security Centre in Herceg-Novi;
 Milorad Šljivančanin, as Police Station Commander in Herceg-Novi;
 Branko Bujić, as Head of the Security Centre in Bar; and
 Sreten Glendža, as Chief of the Security Unit in Ulcinj.

Press release by Supreme State Prosecutor Mrs. Ranka Čarapić, January 19, 2009 (in Montenegrin)