25/11/2010 Press release regarding the new attack on Slobodan Pejovic, witness to the crime of deportation of refugees in 1992
Human Rights Action expresses its concern over the latest threat to Slobodan Pejovic, a former police inspector and witness to the crime of deportation of refugees from Montenegro in 1992.
This is the eleventh security threat to Pejovic in Montenegro since 1992, when he refused to take part in the crime of deportation of refugees “ex officio”. We have informed the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations for the protection of persons committed to the realization of human rights on all previous uninvestigated and unpunished threats and attacks, as well as other international organizations. In 2009 we required the Supreme State Prosecutor to provide protection for Pejovic, which was done at the end of last year after a certain delay, after the same was required by 77 other NGOs from the region.
In today’s article published in the daily “Pobjeda” it has been suggested that this is a crime which is “treated as damage to other people’s property, according to the criminal provisions, and prosecuted by private action.” This covers up the essence of persecution that Pejovic and his family were subjected to and grants amnesty to the state that is responsible to officially investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of the crime of Endangering the security, continuously being committed against Pejovic.
It is devastating for a country which considers itself worthy of European democracy, dedicated to protection of human rights, to allow continuous pressure on the witness of war crimes who, amongst other things, shows that not all members of the police and the National Security Agency blindly obeyed the orders directed to war crimes, but own conscience, in accordance with the international and domestic humanitarian and criminal law, in force at that time as well.
The case of Slobodan Pejovic and his family leaving Montenegro would be the ultimate indicator that almost twenty years after the war the state is helpless before those who have committed crimes and are still proud of it. We believe that finding and punishing those who continually threaten Pejovic must be of highest national interest, but since this has not happened to date, it is quite reasonable to suspect that the perpetrators actually enjoy the protection of the state.
