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Implementation of the War Crimes Investigation Strategy of the State Prosecutor’S Office of Montenegro 2015-2021

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Implementation of the War Crimes Investigation Strategy of the State Prosecutor’S Office of Montenegro 2015-2021 THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACTION REPORT Implementation of the War Crimes Investigation Strategy of the State Prosecutor’s Office of Montenegro 2015-2021 The project "Towards Justice for the Victims of War Crimes" is supported by the Government of the United Kingdom, within the Regional War Crimes Project (RWC) implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Implementation of the War Crimes Investigation Strategy of the State Prosecutor’s Office of Montenegro 2015 - 2021 Human Rights Action – HRA Podgorica, June 2021 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WAR CRIMES INVESTIGATION OF THE STATE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE OF MONTENEGRO Editor Human Rights Action (HRA) Addreess: Bulevar Svetog Petra Cetinjskog 130/VII 81 000 Podgorica, Montenegro Tel: 020/232 348, 232/358; Fax: 020/232 122 [email protected] www.hraction.org On behalf of the editor Tea Gorjanc Prelević Prepared by Tea Gorjanc Prelević Đorđije Drinčić Nebojša Vučinić (author of the Addendum) Editor Tea Gorjanc Prelević Translation Alisa Radić The report was prepared and published as part of the project titled “Towards Justice for War Crimes Victims”, implemented by the Human Rights Action as part of the Regional War Crimes Project (RWC), implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with the support of the UK Government. The contents of this report do not necessarily reflect the views of UNDP and the UK Government and are the sole responsibility of the Human Rights Action. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 1 1. The War Crimes Investigation Strategy (2015) ......................................................................................... 4 1.1. Adoption of the Strategy.................................................................................................................... 4 1.2. Bodies responsible for the implementation of the Strategy and for monitoring its implementation .................................................................................................................................................................. 4 1.3. Start of implementation of the Strategy and reporting on its implementation ................................ 4 1.4. Content of the Strategy...................................................................................................................... 5 1.5. The Strategy and similar documents from the region ....................................................................... 5 1.6. Tasks and results ................................................................................................................................ 7 1.7. Activities ............................................................................................................................................. 9 1.7.1. Data collection ............................................................................................................................ 9 1.7.2. Analisys of collected data ......................................................................................................... 10 1.7.3. Examination of witnesses, identification of cases, legal qualification and conducting investigations ...................................................................................................................................... 10 1.8. “Possible problems encountered during war crimes investigation” .............................................. 11 1.9. The establishment of prosecutor-police teams ............................................................................... 12 2. Review of the Actions of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office Based on the War Crimes Investigation Strategy (May 2015 - May 2021) ................................................................................................................ 13 2.1. Press releases, media and public appearances ................................................................................ 13 2.2. Preliminary investigations, investigations and charges ................................................................... 13 2.2.1. Year 2015 .................................................................................................................................. 14 2.2.2. Year 2016 .................................................................................................................................. 15 2.2.3. Year 2017 .................................................................................................................................. 16 2.2.4. Year 2018 .................................................................................................................................. 17 2.2.5. Year 2019 .................................................................................................................................. 18 2.2.6. Year 2020 .................................................................................................................................. 19 2.2.7. Year 2021 .................................................................................................................................. 20 2.3. The Zmajević case (processed) ........................................................................................................ 21 3. Overview of Old War Crimes Cases after the Adoption of the War Crimes Investigation Strategy ....... 23 3.1. Commitment overview .................................................................................................................... 23 3.2. The “Deportation of Refugees” case................................................................................................ 24 3.2.1. Case description ........................................................................................................................ 24 3.2.2. Processing ................................................................................................................................. 24 3.2.3. What has been done after the adoption of the Strategy ......................................................... 28 3.3. The “Morinj'” case ........................................................................................................................... 33 3.3.1. Description of the case and the prosecution ............................................................................ 33 3.3.2. What has been done since the adoption of the Strategy ......................................................... 35 3.4. The “Bukovica” case ......................................................................................................................... 35 3.4.1. Case description ........................................................................................................................ 35 3.4.2. Description of the prosecution ................................................................................................. 36 3.4.3. What has been done after the adoption of the Strategy ......................................................... 37 3.5. The “Kaludjerski laz” case ................................................................................................................ 38 3.5.1. Description of the case and the prosecution ............................................................................ 38 3.5.2. What has been done after the adoption of the Strategy ............................................................. 38 3.6. The “Štrpci” case ............................................................................................................................. 39 3.6.1. Case description ........................................................................................................................ 39 3.6.2. Description of the prosecution ................................................................................................. 40 3.6.3. What has been done after the adoption of the Strategy ......................................................... 41 3.7. Other cases...................................................................................................................................... 43 3.7.1. The Dubrovnik battlefield ......................................................................................................... 43 3.7.2. "Weekend Warriors" ................................................................................................................. 45 3.7.3. Rape cases in eastern BiH ......................................................................................................... 46 3.7.4. “Lora 3” and other cases of reporting crimes against members of the YNA from Montenegro ............................................................................................................................................................ 47 4. Protection of witnesses in war crimes cases .................................................................................. 49 5. Trainings and Conferences ...................................................................................................................... 50 5.1. Year 2015 ......................................................................................................................................... 50 5.2. Year 2016 ......................................................................................................................................... 51 5.3. Year 2017 ........................................................................................................................................
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