Open Season On Refugees

Montenegrin Interior Minister Nikola Pejakovic's answer to Danijela StuparTitoric's question as to the whereabouts of her husband, was very precise: "Your husband Alemko Titoric from New Sarajevo was arrested on May 26, 1992 in HerzegNovi (Montenegro), along with another 34 persons, and at the request of the Serb Republic in Bosnia Herzegovina and handed over to Srebrenica police force officers Petar Mitrovic and Predrag Perendic. On the same day he was handed over to the Military Police at the Territorial Defence headquarters in Bratunac (Eastern Bosnia), where he was supposed to be included among a group of Muslims to be exchanged for captured Serb territorial fighters.'' (VREME published a facsimile of the Minister's letter in its last number.)

Pejakovic's letter confirms suspicions harbored by a part of the Montenegrin opposition that refugees were being deported after numerous cases pointed to the fact that the matter concerned actions with all the characteristics of war crimes against the civilian population. The opposition demanded a Parliamentry investigation of the deportations in mid 1992. These demands resulted in the demonization of the opposition and associations of citizens by the media. At the time there were articles on the arrest of "mujahedin fighters and commandos" who had "arrived in Montenegro as refugees with the aim of instigating war."

Talks with President Momir Bulatovic followed. He assured the members of party delegations that the persecution of refugees would stop, and that each individual case would be looked into.

A month later Minister Pejakovic sent his reply.

"On May 27, 1992, Srebrenica police force officers Petar Mitrovic, Predrag Perendic, Slavisa Perendic and Nenad Zivanovic received authorizations no. 53/92 dated 25.5.1992 and signed by Police chief Milutin Milosevic that the following persons had been handed over. A list of 34 names follows. All the men were born in BH.

Pejakovic goes on to say that because of assessments that combat activities in the area of the former BH "endangered the security of our policemen escorting these persons, it had been agreed that Srebrenica police officers would come to HerzegNovi and take over the aforementioned persons.'' The transportation of the persons to Srebrenica was carried out with a vehicle belonging to the firm "Drina D. D. Srebrenica,'' driven by Radisa Milosavljevic, who had a travel order no. 000 111.

This however, was not the only group of refugees to be handed over to the organs of authority of the socalled Serb Republic in BH. The reply goes on to say that Pluzina police officers, at the request of the Foca police, handed over on May 24, 1992, Husein Rikalo (1957), Hidhat Rikalo (1966) and Zaim Rikalo (1963) all born in Foca, to the Pluzina police. Two days before that the three brothers were detained in HerzegNovi at the request of the Foca police, and taken over in Foca by Police chief Milomir Malis.

The Montenegrin police handed over sixteen men to Foca prison director Slavko Koroman on May 25, 1992. All men were of Serb nationality. Along with them a group of 21 Muslims were also handed over.

The Plevlja police handed over a group of men at the Metalka border crossing on May 19, 1992 to policemen from Cajnic. The group included: Mirsad Hurena, Rasim Kajgana, Ibrahim Sandal, Milomir Kezunovic, Marko Mijatovic, Nikola Brcic (all from Foca) and Zijad Velic from Cajnic. Minister Pejakovic's reply does not state who carried out the transfer, nor are the dates and places of birth of the men given. The name of one man is mentioned. "On the basis of a request by the Banja Luka security service, and due to founded suspicion that he committed a crime under Act 142 of the Yugoslav Penal Code (war crimes against the civilian population), Sulejman Pilic from Kupres (born 1942 in Kupres) has been handed over to the Belgrade state security to be escorted to the Banja Luka security service.'' There is no date on the transfer paper, or the name of the policemen who carried it out.

What determined Alemko Titoric's fate, and that of all those who sought refuge from the war in Montenegro? In his reply Minister Pejakovic claims decisively that deportation or `police banishment', which is formally an independent police decision, and pertains to actions not linked to court procedures, was not applied in any of the cases concerning persons from the former Socialist Republic of BH.'' He then goes on to explain that the Ministry of the Interior worked under very complex conditions at the time "propagand-apsychological warfare which was encouraged from certain centers and aimed at de stabilizing the political-security situation in Montenegro and direct involvement in the war.'' Pejakovic claims that the Montenegrin Interior Ministry has data that among the refugees there were "persons suspected of having committed serious crimes in areas where interethnic conflicts erupted,'' but none of the deported persons are described as belonging to this category. Pejakovic claims that the deportation requests at the time (1992) broached a dilemma, but that after consultations with the "competent prosecution," it was decided that the above described actions would be taken.

It is still a mystery which prosecuting body in Montenegro was competent in giving the green light for the subsequent actions, since no one wishes to admit to the fact, and documents are inaccessible. It is known however, that Minister Pejakovic did not have any dilemmas when answering Danijela StuparTitoric's question, i.e. when he said that 34 persons along with her husband had been deported with very clear intentions. It is true too, that at the time of writing Pejakovic had just taken over the post of Minister, after Pavle Bulatovic's promotion to Yugoslav Minister of the Interior. It is a matter of conjecture if Pejakovic's letter to Danijela StuparTitoric should be regarded as a mistake or something else, since the refugees were persecuted at the time when Pavle Bulatovic, now Federal Defence Minister, was Montenegrin Interior Minister. On July 21, 1992 Bulatovic admitted that the Serb Republic in BH, i.e. the Autonomous Region of Herzegovina had requested that all persons aged 1860 be returned to their territories. "A number of such persons were returned, some from the border and some from Montenegrin territory. The Serbian side treated them correctly, unless they had committed crimes.'' Pavle Bulatovic claimed at the time that only persons responsible for crimes had been deported and that further activities in this direction were abandoned after two-three days.

President Momir Bulatovic attended the talks with the delegation of the Party of National Equality. He confirmed that the refugees had been returned to BH, and that the practice had been stopped. It still needs to be determined what took place while this police decision was in force; the fate of a large number of Muslim and Serb refugees who disappeared from Montenegro still has to be determined.

In early May 1992, the citizens of Plav saw the military and civilian police encircle the local hotel where some 20odd youths from BH were waiting for a bus to take them home, after having completed their military service at the Plav garrison. The parents of the young men could not learn their children's fate for a long time. In April and May 1992 incursions by armed groups from Bosnia into Montenegro were frequent. Refugees would be driven off in territorial defence vehicles, even rounded up from the Red Cross offices. This took place in Baosic, HerzegNovi, Niksic, Pljevlja and Pluzine, and all according to the same scenario. On May 12, 1992 two territorial fighters from Foca with the help of the local police rounded up all the male refugees from the Red Cross office in Pljevlja and took them off to an unknown destination. The list of deported persons given in Minister Pejakovic's reply is not final, and it seems that it was given only with the intention of calming a dissatisfied public.

"The issue pertains to the most flagrant violation of the Convention on Refugees ratified by Yugoslavia, and to war crimes against the civilian population," said Podgorica Law School professor Nebojsa Vucinic, talking to VREME. "The refugees' fundamental right is not to be returned to the state they have fled from, and where their lives are endangered, as are their physical and mental integrity. The state's fundamental obligation is to offer refugees protection, and if among them there are those who have committed crimes against humanity, then they must be tried by a regular court and according to regular court procedures."

It remains a mystery as to who persuaded the Montenegrin authorities to stop deporting refugees, but it is a fact that the authorities promised a dissatisfied opposition that they "wouldn't do this anymore, and that no political party should try to win political points on account of what had happened." Our collocutors claim that President Bulatovic made the same promise, after which the persecution stopped.