CHRONICLE ON SINS OF THE AUTHORITIES

Violation of human and ethnic rights and freedoms in Montenegro

Text:

June 22, 1995 The truth about violation of human and ethnic rights and freedoms in Montenegro reached the public mainly thanks to persistence of opposition parties and independent media. State agencies and institutions skirted this delicate sphere in a broad detour, or presented it in idyllic colours. Recently, the Democratic Forum for Human Rights and Interethnic Relations, a non-governmental, multiethnic and humanitarian association of citizens, founded in Podgorica in mid April 1992, publicized in writing everything that had happened in this highly sensitive and significant area in the past few years in Montenegro.

In very difficult conditions, the Forum succeeded in collecting an abundance of specific data on exercising human and ethnic rights and freedoms since the beginning of 1989 until the end of last year, and presented this pioneering undertaking in the form of a brochure.

• The report is, as President of the Forum, Dr Avdul Kurpejovic says, founded on reliable documentation: information of public media, republican state agencies, knowledge that reached certain political parties, written or oral statements of threatened citizens given to the Democratic Forum, but also an investigation carried out by a group of members of this association. The objective was to present the situation in this field as specifically and as documented as possible, but especially cases which are sanctioned by international law and domestic regulations, but criminal offences of war criminals against civilian population too. We reached the unambiguous conclusion that there are mass violations of these rights in quite a high degree, and we will present our investigation to the public in Montenegro, Yugoslavia and Europe, and competent United Nations agencies, convinced that it is going to be another warning for the democratic public that the present level of democratization in Montenegro is not in accordance with normative solutions.

This report includes a broad spectre of individul and collective instances of violation of fundamental human and ethnic rights and freedoms. Those with elements of war crimes against civilian population are in the majority, but there is also threatened freedom of the press and endangered bare survival. The fact that the Constitution of Montenegro is not in accordance with international norms on human rights precribed by documents of the United Nations and CSCE is especially stressed. The Constitution includes no provisions according to which Montenegro is a state of its citizens and nations, nor is there a provision according to which the citizens may seek protection of their rights and freedoms from international judicial institutions. Republican laws, such as the Criminal Law, the Law on Internal Affairs, Law on Information, and Election Law have not been coordinated with international norms of humanitarian law either. Not even criminal offences such as war crimes against civilian population are incriminated by them - ethnic cleansing, mobilization of refugees by order of illegitimate agencies from other states, or banishment of refugees back to the state they came from. And in the past few years, many such instances occurred in Montenegro with the approval of the present authorities. Here are some of the characteristic ones from the report.

For waging the war in Croatia and Bosnia&Herzegovina, in which about 190 were killed, about 600 wounded, and about 80 missing - either regular soldiers, members of reserve forces or volunteers, the former Yugoslav People's Army mobilized more than 40 thousand citizens of Montenegro. Those who have refused to go had to answer for it and were punished, contrary to the document of the Conference on Human Dimension in Copenhagen, signed by the former SFRY. Moreover, even prisoners from the correctional institution in Spuz near Podgorica were sent to the front.

In the course of 1992, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Montenegro deported refugees from Bosnia & Herzegovina by force to the Bosnian battleground. Almost a hundred young men who did not wish to go to war were arrested and delivered to combatants of Radovan Karadzic.

Almost 130 Montenegrins, refugees from Albania, after almost two years spent in camps, under tents and in prison premises, were taken by force and colonized in Decani (Kosovo), and some of them were returned to Albania.

On February 27, 1993, 20 citizens of Muslim nationality were kidnapped from a train at the station of Strpci on the railroad Belgrade-Bar and nothing has ever been revealed about their destiny to this day!

Several villages in the northern part of Montenegro have been ethnically cleansed by banishment of citizens of Muslim nationality. Emigration of 800 Muslims from the village of Bukovica, municipality of Pljevlja, who were forced to leave their homes because of brutal treatment by the soldiers of the Army of Yugslavia and the army of Bosnian Serbs is the most extreme example.

Several specific examples of armed assaults against citizens of Muslim nationality, terrorist attacks against their religious and other buildings, beating and threats which even members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs participated in are also listed and described in the report.

Much attention is devoted to the economic system and economic policy in Montenegro, which, as stressed, create unequal opportunities for earning money, employment, social security, education and health protection. That is why a large number of Montenegrin citizens are on the verge of existence due to unemployment, irregular payment of very low salaries and other income, or they were left without their jobs.

In the political system, discrimination on ethnic grunds is obviously at work. Specific examples are listed: prevention of appropriate representation in the republican parliament for nations which are not numerous, ethnic communities and minorities, and similarly in state agencies, judiciary, education, diplomatic service and other republican institutions.

Jeopardy of human rights is drastic in the sphere of the media as well. Information propaganda dominated by war, has introduced hatred and collective ethnic intolerance among the public, especilly by satanization of the Muslims and the Croats. Besides, the citizens are isolated from the reality, because independent Montenegrin media are stifled in various ways. Among them, the weekly Monitor has played an exceptionally significant role in penetrating the information bockade Montenegro has been living in for years now.

The publication presents also many other forms of threatening and violating fundamental human rights: armed rebellion and occupation of Pljevlje by paramilitary formations of Milika-Ceko Dapcevic, which was preceded by mining of 25 houses and business premises owned by the Muslims from Pljevlje; arrests and torture of leaders of the Party of Democratic Action; staged trials to members or sympathizers of opposition parties because they allegedly "insulted the person and deeds of the President and the Prime Minister of Montenegro"... A single fact that in this period of political trials, the total verdict of 104 years of imprisonment was delivered virtually for the so-called verbal offences, speaks for itself about democratic orientation of the current Montenegrin authorities and situation in the sphere of human rights in this republic.

People in the Democratic Forum believe that this report will primariily have a preventive and stimulating effect on implemention, protection, prevention and taking adequate measures towards all protagonists of violation and jeopardy of human and ethnic rights of the citizens of Montenegro, although so far, competent state agencies responded to the initiatives of the Forum by - complete silence.

"The analysed period of time, Dr Kurpejovic adds, coincides with the replacement of the previous by the present political regime, the singleparty system with the multiparty, and expectations that the new power-holders would effectuate promises about Montenegro as a civic and democratic state where more favourable conditions would be created for an efficient protection of human rights and freedoms. However, an indestructible link was established between politics and police in relation to judiciary and the media, which was directly oriented towards violation of human rights. This link is so strong that not even those who wish to and who highly esteem their profession can act independently from it.

Let us quote a symbolic and pessimistic conclusion concerning this useful and alarming report: "The circle of those who are in favour of respecting human rights is expending, but it has a very limited influence on the public, and even less on the regime".

And yet, this documented five-year chronicle on violation of human and ethnic rights and freedoms has great chances to disturb a little at least the conscience of the current Montenegrin authorities under whose auspices it was written.

Veseljko KOPRIVICA (AIM Podgorica)