VZCZCXRO3793
PP RUEHPOD
DE RUEHPOD #0248/01 2731122
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291122Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY PODGORICA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0964
INFO RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PRIORITY 0429
RUEHPS/AMEMBASSY PRISTINA PRIORITY 0120
RUEHVJ/AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO PRIORITY 0117
RUEHTI/AMEMBASSY TIRANA PRIORITY 0160
RUEHVB/AMEMBASSY ZAGREB PRIORITY 0197
RUEHPOD/AMEMBASSY PODGORICA 1051

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