TRIAL WITH THE TASTE OF POLITICS

Beginning of the trial to the participant of Strpci kidnapping

AIM Podgorica, 10 May, 1998

Will the veil begin to lift from the "Strpci" mystery, or will everything continue to be equally mysterious after the trial which recently began in Bijelo Polje, a small town in the north of Montenegro, without evidence of the committed crime of the chief perpetrators and organisers of this crime?

This is a crucial question which arises after the first week of the trial to Nebojsa Ranisavljevic, carpenter with elementary school education, with residence in Despotovac (Serbia), unemployed, father of three children from two marriages, who is indicted for having participated as a member of Serbian para-military forces, in kidnapping and execution of passengers kidnapped from the Belgrade - Bar train at the railway station Strpci on February 27, 1993. "I am sorry for these families but I have nothing to do with the kidnapping of passengers in Strpci. I have never participated in any actions together with Lukic, nor in any actions against civilian population" declared the 34 years old Ranisavljevic in court.

Milan Lukic, mentioned by the accused, was the notorious commander of Serbian para-military group "Revengers", which terrorised the Moslem population in Eastern Bosnia. In April 1994, a litigation was initiated against Lukic and his closest associate Boban Indjic accused of the crime in Strpci, but they were released very soon after under unclarified circumstances. The formal explanation was that there was no evidence. Soon after that, Lukic was decorated in Republika Srpska, and rumour goes that he is still at large, and quite wealthy in his native Visegrad.

Lawyers of Nebojsa Ranisavljevic, established their defence on denying the statement their client had given when arrested in October 1996. They claim that he was physically tortured and finally forced to sign the indictment written by someone else. Although Ranisavljevic did not complain because of the treatment of Montenegrin police, the fact that lawyers were not present at the investigation and his possible confession, left enough space for speculations and pretexts.

But, circumstances are becoming more difficult for Ranisavljevic, since the indictment was not based solely on his evidence. The escorts and the policemen who were in the train from which the passengers were kidnapped will be interrogated, together with the train dispatcher in Strpci. The crucial witness, Dusko Petrovic also from Despotovac, brother-in-law of the accused Ranisavljevic, already appeared in the court. Contrary to his brother-in-law, Petrovic repeated his statement given almost two years ago - passengers from the train No. 671 were kidnapped by the para-military group to which both Ranisavljevic and Petrovic belonged, and the commander of which was Milan Lukic. Afterwards, the kidnappers took the passengers to the Visegrad dam, executed them and threw their bodies into the river Drina. In court, Petrovic recognised seven people on photos of 19 kidnapped passengers.

Attorneys of Ranisavljevic reject these accusations and deny the testimony of Petrovic, because the person in question is "a drunkard and a thief, sentenced a few times, who cannot be believed". Defence added that some elements of revenge could be involved, since Ranisavljevic had divorced Petrovic's sister.

It was not the indictment against the accused Ranisavljevic which marked the first week of the trial, but the accusation addressed to Vojislav Seselj, the Serbian Government Vice prime minister and the Leader of the Serb Radical Party (SRS). Petrovic, the mentioned crucial witness declared in court that duke Seselj himself arrived to Visegrad after the execution of kidnapped passengers and awarded the kidnappers. Seselj promptly responded to this accusation in Podgorica independent daily Vijesti: "I would not be surprised if that Petrovic would accuse me of having personally killed John Kennedy"!

This unexpected involvement of Duke Seselj into the game opened numerous doubts. First, it is not clear what is the background of this evidently well prepared and presented indictment. It is not difficult to guess the answer, but only if it could be discovered who "treated" Petrovic, Jovica Stanisic, Milosevic's Security Counsellor or Vukasin Maras, Djukanovic's Minister of Police. According to the first version, Stanisic "worked" with Petrovic, and deliberately made his give the statement about Seselj in order to turn the rather restrained Radicals against the reform coalition of President Djukanovic by the end of Montenegrin electorial campaign. According to the second version, Maras wanted to discredit the leader of the Radicals and weaken the position of his party in the parliamentary elections. This story is less probable, because the Montenegrin government would do anything in order to strengthen the Radicals and other "Serbian parties" and thus take as many votes as possible from its main rival, the party of Bulatovic.

It is evident from the very beginning that the process is involved in politics and that is it used for obtaining votes. Thus suspicion arises concerning intentions of local authorities to shed light on the crime in Strpci by organising the trial after 5 years and reduce nationalism in the region which is necessary if real reforms and achievement of a civil society are wanted. This trial would turn into a farce both if Ranisavljevic was liberated due to lack of evidence or sentenced to a period of 5 - 20 years as a main protagonist of the Strpci crime, as prescribed by law. Only direct evidence of the whole plan which evidently existed, and those who organised the plot could justify the beginning of the trial of Nebojsa Ranisavljevic. The fact that representatives of the Hague tribunal, UN High Commissioner, Helsinki Committee, and the Fund for Humanitarian Law were present at the trial, indicates the high expectations of the local and the international public. The Montenegrin Government is up against a big temptation because it should show the degree of readiness to come face to face with the dark spots from its past. The case is certainly rather complicated because the court might call on many, much more important persons than Nebojsa Ranisavljevic, the only indicted up to now, if traces would be consequently followed without any prejudice.

Marko Vukovic

AIM Podgorica