Samir KajosevicPodgoricaBIRNApril 18, 202313:09Human rights organisations called on prosecutors to reopen an investigation into the killings of six Kosovo Albanian civilians by Yugoslav Army troops in the Montenegrin village of Kaludjerski Laz in 1999.

This post is also available in this language: Shqip Bos/Hrv/Srp

Montenegro Urged to Reinvestigate 1999 Killings of Kosovo Albanians

The special state prosecutor’s offices in Podgorica, Montenegro. Photo: EPA/BORIS PEJOVIC.

Montenegrin human rights organisations said on Tuesday that the Special State Prosecution to reopen its probe of the killings of six Albanian civilians from Kosovo, including two children, by Yugoslav Army troops in the village of Kaludjerski Laz on April 19, 1999.

Five others were injured in the attack, which took place during NATO’s 78-day bombing of Yugoslavia, aimed at making President Slobodan Milosevic end his repression of ethnic Albanians and withdraw his forces from Kosovo.

According to prosecution data, from April to May 1999, 11 more ethnic Albanians were also killed in nearby areas while they were fleeing from Kosovo during the NATO bombing.

“There are still a lot of controversies surrounding this war crime, but the fact remains that no one has yet been held accountable for the murder of people who tried to flee to Montenegro. This obliges the prosecution to reopen an investigation and establish all the facts of this crime,” said Tamara Milas from the Centre for Civic Education NGO.

In March 2007, the Montenegrin Supreme Prosecution launched an investigation into Yugoslav Army officer Pavle Strugar and 11 former soldiers over their alleged involvement in war crimes near the Kosovo border.

In August 2008, the prosecution filed an indictment charging Strugar, army commanders Momcilo Barjaktarovic, Petar Labudovic and Aco Knezevic and reservist soldiers Branislava Radnic, Boro Novakovic, Miro Bojovic and Radomir Djuraskovic.

During their trial, the prosecution claimed that Yugoslav Army troops opened fire at a group of Albanian refugees who were crossing the border from Kosovo, while the defence claimed the army was protecting the border from potential attacks by the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army.

In December 2013, the Higher Court in Bijelo Polje acquitted the defendants of war crimes against the civilian population, arguing that prosecutors didn’t provide enough evidence that they were guilty.

A year later, the Montenegrin Appeal Court confirmed the Higher Court verdict.

The Youth Initiative for Human Rights NGO said in a statement on Tuesday that the investigation of the Kaludjerski Laz war crime was ineffective.

“The investigation must therefore be reopened, but the potential responsibility of superiors for some kind of complicity or [guilt] on the basis of command responsibility must also be examined,” the NGO said in a press release.

The Human Rights Action NGO also urged the prosecution on Tuesday to reopen the investigation into the Kaludjerski Laz case, arguing that the previous probe was carried out poorly.

As a part of Yugoslavia, Montenegro participated in the 1990s wars, although there was no fighting on its own territory. Since the country became independent in 2006, it has held just eight trials for war crimes committed in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, and only low-level perpetrators have been brought to court.

In its 2022 report on Montenegro’s progress towards EU membership, the European Commission stated that the prosecution has achieved limited results in implementing its war crime strategy, but noted that the country is seeking to make changes to the law intended to improve the way it deals with such crimes.

Source link: balkaninsight.com