The State Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Croatia has finally decided to interrogate Veselin Bojović, a surviving Montenegrin prisoner of war from the Split prison camp Lora, who in 1992 suffered severe abuse at the hands of the authorities and was a witness to the torture and possible killings of other Montenegrin prisoners. This decision followed the submission of the documentary film “Zlo proljeće ’92” (Evil Spring ’92) by the non-governmental organizations Human Rights Action (HRA) from Podgorica and Documenta from Zagreb to the County State Attorney’s Office in Split, which included Bojović’s testimony.

HRA and Documenta welcome this step by the County State Prosecutor’s Office, with the expectation that after 18 years of investigation, criminal proceedings will finally be initiated for the torture of Montenegrin prisoners of war, who, according to domestic and international law, should have been protected from such abuse in Lora in 1992.

Bojović will be interrogated today, February 13, 2024, through international legal assistance, at the Special State Prosecutor’s Office of Montenegro.

This will be the second time he provides testimony to the Montenegrin State Prosecutor’s Office about the torture in Lora. The first time was 12 years ago, by state prosecutor Lidija Vukčević.

The request for Bojović’s interrogation this week represents the first step taken by the Croatian State Prosecutor’s Office in investigating the abuse of Montenegrin prisoners of war in Lora, a case that has been publicly known for the past 12 years. The investigation was opened in 2007, but what actions have been taken since then remain unclear. Despite the substantial evidence, the Montenegrin State Prosecutor’s Office delivered to Croatia in 2012, no investigation has yet been opened nor has anyone been charged with the torture, witnessed by multiple individuals.

A turning point in the investigation came with the documentary film “Zlo proljeće ‘92” by Radio Television Nikšić, which was submitted to the County State Prosecutor’s Office in November 2023 by HRA and Documenta. The submission also included an analysis of the available data, with a list of potential witnesses and victims.

In March 2024, representatives of the aforementioned NGOs met with representatives of the County State Prosecutor’s Office, where they were informed that the office had not reviewed the submitted material for four months due to technical reasons. Following that meeting, with the cooperation of the Director of RTV Nikšić, Nikola Marković, a CD containing the complete documentary material was delivered to the Prosecutor’s Office.

According to recent information received by Documenta from the County State Prosecutor’s Office, after reviewing the film, Deputy County State Prosecutor Rene Laura forwarded the film to the police, requesting a detailed report. The police analyzed the material and produced a report on statements pointing to the commission of war crimes against prisoners of war. Prosecutor Laura then submitted a request for international legal assistance, seeking to interrogate witnesses from relevant institutions in Montenegro, including Veselin Bojović.

In the film, Bojović testified about the brutal abuse of Montenegrins in Lora. According to his testimony, one of the main perpetrators of the crimes at Lora was the camp commander Tomislav Duić, who inflicted most of the beatings on him. For the main perpetrator of the torture of Luka Adžić, a reserve soldier from Nikšić, Bojović named Tanja Duić, the then-wife of Tomislav Duić. He described how the torture was carried out, with Tanja Duić throwing Adžić to the ground, stomping on him, dragging him into a doghouse, and forcing him to bark while other prisoners barked at him. The guards forced the prisoners to stab each other with knives, slap one another, and if they did not strike hard enough, they were beaten with batons. They were also connected to an improvised telephone wire attached to their genitals, causing electrical induction when twisted.

Bojović also testified about the torture in Block C, after which he saw completely bloodied rooms, a severed ear, and a mutilated genitals. He noted that, at the time, a guard at Lora, Anđelko Botić, told him that his “compatriots were now in the cold storage” (he learned from Luka Adžić that they were part of the Nikšić-Šavnik group of the Yugoslav National Army).

We once again appeal to the County State Prosecutor’s Office to expand the investigation after all these years and finally prosecute those responsible for the torture and suffering of Montenegrin soldiers in Lora, including Veselin Bojović.

Since 2007, the County State Prosecutor’s Office has been investigating the suffering of Montenegrin military reservists, who were captured in the Herzegovina battlefield in 1992 and transferred to the military-investigative center “Lora” in Split. These are fourteen members of the so-called Nikšić-Šavnik group, whose rights were protected by the Geneva Conventions and the laws of the Republic of Croatia. They were prisoners of war, and in accordance with international humanitarian law, they deserved protection from torture and death: Radivoje Petković, Neđeljko Janković, Miljan Šušić, Ratko Simović, Duško Barović, Borivoje Zirojević, Dragoman Doknić, Radomir Vulić, Miloš Perunović, Ranko Vujović, Pavle Popović, Dragan Jakovljević, Luka Gazivoda, and Luka Adžić.

The International Red Cross only recorded Luka Adžić, one of the fourteen, in Lora, who was exchanged in August 1992 in a very poor psychological and physical state. A year later, he passed away in Nikšić. The remains of the other twelve were found in various locations in Bosnia and Herzegovina near Duvno, Mostar, and Trebinje. The body of Miloš Perunović has not yet been found.

Regarding the suffering of the members of the so-called Bar Group, specifically Safet Barundžija, Dragutin Vujačić, Ilija Moračanin, Slobodan Pejaković, Zoran Radović, and Petar Sekulović, who are also believed to have passed through Lora, the Special Prosecutor’s Office in Montenegro has been conducting an investigation since 2016. Aside from communication with the Ministry of Defense of Montenegro, regional prosecutors’ offices, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague, and the analysis of collected information, there have been no concrete results in this case. It was only in 2022 that a request was made to determine the whereabouts of a number of individuals, after which an investigative team was formed. The investigation is ongoing, and the Special Prosecutor’s Office has not provided detailed updates on further actions. Additionally, the Special Prosecutor’s Office is also investigating the suffering of Radomir Vulić, a member of the Nikšić-Šavnik group, as his name appeared in the correspondence of the Association of Veterans of the 1990s Wars of Montenegro, based on which this case was opened, leading to an overlap in investigative actions with those undertaken by the County State Prosecutor’s Office in Split.