Podgorica, (MINA) – The final verdict in the Klopuh war crime case did not bring justice to the family, which is why the case remains a symbol of impunity, said executive director of the Human Rights Action (HRA) Tea Gorjanc Prelevic, while a member of the family of the murdered, Ferid Klapuh, said that he has lost trust in the institutions, but would not give up the fight.

 

Hasan, Ferida and Sena Klapuh from Foca were killed in Montenegro in 1992 by members of Republika Srpska Army, after they had been promised safe passage out of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). In 1996, the High Court in Podgorica issued the first final verdict for a war crime in the region, but most of those convicted never served their sentences, leaving case without a full judicial epilogue even 34 years later.

 

Three decades of waiting for identification

   

The son and brother of the victims, Ferid Klapuh, said in an interview with the MINA News Agency that the entire process from the exhumation and identification his family members’ remains from an improvised cemetery next to the tennis courts in Niksic, had taken unjustifiably long time.

 

“The DNA analysis for my mother and sister alone took six months. Three months have already passed since the exhumation of my father’s remains”, said Klapuh, recalling that only his mother and sister’s identity was confirmed.

 

After the Ministry of Social Welfare, Family Care and Demography announced on Monday, on the 34th anniversary of the murder, that the Commission for Missing Persons of the Government of Montenegro had received confirmation of the identification of Hasan Klapuh’s remains, Ferid Klapuh said that he had not yet been officially informed.

 

He believes that the failures of the institutions began immediately after the crime.

 

“Obstructions by the institutions of Montenegro began from the moment of the burial. There are no records about the burial, nor the location of the burial, not the graves were marked”, said Klapuh.

 

Gorjanc Prelevic told the MINA News Agency that the exhumation in Niksic and confirmation of the victims’ identity represent an important step forward, but recalled that this also came after more than three decades.

 

“It is unfortunate that the remains of all three victims were not exhumed and identified at the same time”, said Gorjanc Prelevic.

 

From the first final war crime verdict to unenforced sentences

 

Gorjanc Prelevic believes that insufficient cooperation between Montenegro, Serbia and BiH is the main reason why the 1996 verdict has never been fully enforced.

 

“Serbia ignored Montenegro’s request to extradite Zoran Vukovic without justifiable reason, while Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot execute the judgment of another country, nor extradite its own citizens, and when it has to process them itself, that is not happening either”, said Gorjanc Prelevic.

 

She believes that Montenegro has done everything it could in legal sense and now BiH is on the move.

  

Asked whether the Montenegrin authorities had used all legal mechanisms in order to prosecute those responsible, Gorjanc Prelevic said that Montenegro could only insist more on Serbia’s response to extradition of Vukovic.

 

Ferid Klapuh: I will not give up the fight

 

Klapuh says that, despite everything, he will not give up.

 

When asked if he believes that justice will be served, he replied that “it will have to happen”.

 

In 1996, the Podgorica High Court sentenced Janko Janjic, Radomir Kovac, Zoran Simovic and Zoran Vukovic to 20 years in prison each for war crime against the civilian population committed against the Klapuh family, while Vidoje Golubovic was sentenced to eight months in prison for not reporting the crime.

 

Golubovic was the only one who served his sentence, while the other four were tried in absentia because they were on the run. Janjic and Simovic have since passed away, while Radomir Kovac and Zoran Vukovic live in Bosnia and Herzegovina and have not served their sentences.

 

After Bosnia and Herzegovina rejected Montenegro’s request that Kovac and Vukovic serve the sentences in that country, the Montenegrin authorities submitted to the BiH Prosecutor’s Office the complete case files so that new criminal proceedings could be initiated against them.

 

However, on the eve of the 34th anniversary of the crime, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH informed Ferid Klapuh that it would not initiate proceedings against Kovac and Vukovic.