Human rights organizations Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past based in Zagreb, the Center for Peace, Nonviolence and Human Rights from Osijek, and Human Rights Action from Podgorica have voiced their objections to what they describe as false statements made by Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Gordan Grlić Radman.

In response to “Vijesti” regarding Croatia’s readiness to clarify the suffering of 14 members of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) at the Split “Lora” camp, Grlić Radman remarked that “all matters pertaining to the Lora prison events have been investigated and are within the jurisdiction of judicial proceedings, which is neither necessary nor appropriate to comment on.”

“The minister is incorrect. It is established through final judgments that members of the 72nd Military Police Battalion of the Croatian Army subjected civilians and prisoners of war brought in without any legal basis to humiliation, physical and mental abuse, torture, and corporal punishment, resulting in the deaths of some. However, not all crimes committed in Lora have been thoroughly investigated or adjudicated. We highlight the slow progress regarding the suffering of Montenegrin prisoners of war despite evidence of crimes against them,” the statement reads.

“Since 2007, the Split County State Attorney’s Office (ŽDOS) has been examining the ordeal of captured military reservists from Montenegro, taken during the Herzegovina conflict in 1992 to the Lora Military Investigation Center in Split. These 14 individuals belonged to the so-called Nikšić-Šavnik group, whose rights were safeguarded under the Geneva Conventions and Croatian law. As prisoners of war, they were entitled to protection from torture and murder: 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,” it continues.

The organizations pointed out that this case, concerning violations of international criminal law and war crimes against prisoners of war, has recently shown signs of progress, partly due to a request for international legal assistance from ŽDOS and the questioning of Veselin Bojović.

“The surviving Montenegrin prisoner from Lora, who suffered severe mistreatment there in 1992, also bore witness to the torture and murder of other Montenegrin prisoners of war. He finally had the opportunity to testify in Podgorica this February, following a request from ŽDOS,” the statement specifies.

They noted that in cases involving crimes at Lora, concerning the suffering and torture of civilian prisoners from Croatia and prisoners of war from Serbia, Tomislav Duić, the commander of the Lora Military Investigation Center, has already been convicted based on command responsibility.

“This command responsibility could equally apply to the case of Montenegrin prisoners of war, as numerous testimonies have attested to the brutal torture of prisoners, including in Lora. Yet, for reasons unknown, this has not transpired. Furthermore, we do not comprehend why raising a legitimate query regarding the prosecution of crimes at Lora by concerned media is deemed a ‘narrative attempting to equate aggressor and victim’, as Minister Grlić Radman stated. The undeniable facts regarding the assault on Dubrovnik and the crimes enacted by the JNA do not diminish the facts about the torture occurring at Lora. It is essential to document and prosecute all war crimes in each case, irrespective of the perpetrators and victims’ identities. The rule of law obliges us all to take such actions,” they assert.

The organizations expressed regret that Grlić Radman, instead of fostering the ongoing prosecution of crimes, appeared to influence the operations of competent institutions with his remarks.

“We urge the minister to align with his own statement that it is ‘the long-standing and unchanged position of the Republic of Croatia that in relations with Montenegro, solutions to open issues should be found through bilateral dialogue, in the spirit of good neighborly relations and based on international law’, and to advocate for the prosecution of all war crimes, which necessitates an investigation of the crimes committed against the so-called Nikšić-Šavnik group and other unexamined offenses in Lora,” concluded the human rights organizations Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past from Zagreb, the Center for Peace, Nonviolence and Human Rights Osijek, and Human Rights Action from Podgorica.

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