We express our strong protest against the promotion of the monograph about Pavle Bulatović at the Public Institution Cultural-Information Center “Zeta”. This event represents an attempt to rehabilitate and glorify a person who ordered at least one war crime – the deportation of Bosnian-Herzegovinian refugees from Montenegro.

The public tribute to Bulatović, the former Minister of Internal Affairs of Montenegro and Minister of Defense of the FRY, is an affront to the victims and their families, as well as to others who suffered in various ways due to his policies. This directly contributes to the institutional rehabilitation of war criminals and the denial of responsibility for the crimes committed under his command.

We remind you that Pavle Bulatović, as the Minister of Internal Affairs of Montenegro, was the direct instigator of the illegal deportation of Bosnian-Herzegovinian refugees in 1992. By his order, the Montenegrin police arrested and handed over to the Army of the Republic of Srpska at least 66 individuals without legal grounds, of whom only 12 survived (judgment Ks. 6/12, dated November 22, 2012, available on the portal www.sudovi.me). These are not speculations, but court-established facts. The fact that Bulatović was not convicted because he was killed in an assassination in 2000 does not mean that he was not responsible.

However, not only is his role in the crime of Deportation not being overlooked, but also the period during which he served as the Minister of Defense of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1993–2000). During his term, members of the Yugoslav Army committed mass war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Kosovo. The Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Graham Blewitt, stated that “the murdered Yugoslav Minister of Defense Pavle Bulatović was under investigation, and not just for events in Kosovo.”

Such events are not only an insult to the memory of the victims – they are a dangerous attempt to rewrite history, deepen divisions in society, and distance Montenegro from European democratic values.

We believe that it is the duty of every responsible individual and institution to oppose any glorification of war criminals.

Signatories (in alphabetical order):

Human Rights Action (HRA)
ANIMA – Center for Women’s and Peace Education
Antifascists of Cetinje
Association Spectra
Center for Civic Education (CCE)
Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM)
Center for Investigative Journalism (CIN CG)
Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI)
Center for the Development of Non-Governmental Organizations (CRNVO)
Center for Women’s Rights (CŽP)
Montenegrin LGBTIQ association Queer Montenegro
Montenegrin women’s lobby
Montenegrin PEN Center
Montenegrin Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights
Dina Bajramspahić, civic activist
The Society of Montenegrin Publishers
ERA – Alliance for Equal Rights of LGBTI Persons in the Western Balkans and Turkey
Institute for Media of Montenegro
Juventas
Safe women’s house.
Association of LGBTQ Women “Stana”
Association “Štrpci – Against Forgetting”
Association of History Teachers of Montenegro – HIPMONT