Yesterday, on 26 May 2011, NGO Human Rights Action, NGO Centre for Civic Education and Mr. Aleksandar Sasa Zekovic, independent researcher of human rights violations, submitted an Initiative for raising a memorial to the victims of 1992 war crime deportation of refugees in Herceg-Novi. The Initiative was submitted to Mr. Igor Luksic, Prime Minister, Mr. Ivan Brajovic, Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Branislav Micunovic, Minister of Culture, and Mr. Dejan Mandic, President of the City Administration of Herceg-Novi. Today, the Initiative for establishing 27 May as the Memorial Day for victims of deportation shall be submitted to the President of the National Parliament and presidents of the Deputy Clubs.In May and June 1992, at least 66 refugees of Bosnian Muslim origin from Bosnia and Herzegovina were illegally arrested in Montenegro and delivered to hostile Bosnian Serb army in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Only 12 of them managed to survive torture in Republika Srpska concentration camps, and the rest were executed.

Most refugees deprived of their liberty were brought to the Security Centre in Herceg-Novi, which served as a gathering centre. On 25 May 1992 one group was transported by bus to a concentration camp in Foča, which is a fact determined also by the ICTY in the judgment against Milorad Krnojelac. The group of refugees transported from Herceg-Novi on 27 May 1992 was executed on an unknown location in eastern Bosnia. The remains of all the victims have not yet been found.

Yesterday, shortly after submitting our Initiative, the Government’s Bureau of Public Affairs confirmed that the Prime Minister and Ministers of Home Affairs and Culture will support the Initiative for raising a memorial, which is very encouraging. We hope that the Montenegrin parliament will support the Memorial Day as well. We believe that both the monument in front of the police station in Herceg-Novi and Memorial Day would ensure lasting remembrance of the victims and provide continuous warning that such crime should never happen again in Montenegro.

Please visit HRA webpage at /?p=842 for the complete text of both Initiatives in Montenegrin language.