THE CROATIAN PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE NEEDS TO SHOW SERIOUSNESS IN INVESTIGATING THE NIKŠIĆ-ŠAVNIK GROUP MURDERS

According to information obtained by the Human Rights Action (HRA) and Documenta –
Centre for Dealing with the Past, having viewed the documentary film and the series
created by TV Nikšić, “The Evil Spring of ‘92”, the County State Attorney’s Office in
Split (CSAO) will continue to investigate, in cooperation with the police, the brutal
torture of prisoners from Montenegro in the Lora camp in Split.

As a reminder, in November 2023, the HRA and Documenta submitted to the
CSAO the documentary material of the Radio Television Nikšić, which was
provided to them by Mr. Nikola Marković, the Director of said TV station. We also
submitted the analysis of the existing data, along with the list of potential
witnesses and new victims, all with the aim of enabling progress in this case after
17 years.

For the same purpose, we also held a a meeting with the representatives of CSAO
in March 2024, during which we were informed that they were not able to access
the submitted material for four months “due to technical reasons”.

Since 2007, the CSAO has been investigating the murders of military reservists from
Montenegro who were captured on the Herzegovina battlefield in 1992 and taken to the
military investigation centre “Lora” in Split. The case involves 14 members of the so-
called Nikšić-Šavnik group, whose rights were protected by the Geneva Conventions
and the laws of the Republic of Croatia. They were prisoners of war, and as such
deserved protection from torture and murder in line with international humanitarian law.
Their names were: Radivoje Petković, Neđeljko Janković, Miljan Šušić, Ratko Simović,
Duško Barović, Borivoje Zirojević, Dragoman Doknić, Radomir Vulić, Miloš Perunović,
Ranko Vujović, Pavle Popović, Dragan Jakovljević, Luka Gazivoda and Luka Adžić.

Of the above 14 persons, the International Red Cross made a record in Lora only of
Luka Adžić, who was exchanged in August 1992 in a highly serious psychophysical
condition. He died a year later in Nikšić. The remains of 12 others were discovered in
different locations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, near Duvno, Mostar and Trebinje. The
body of Miloš Perunović has never been found.

The submitted documentary film made by TV Nikšić also contains the testimony of one
of the surviving prisoners from Montenegro, Veselin Bojović. In it, he speaks of the
horrors he personally survived, but also about the severe ill-treatment of members of
the Nikšić-Šavnik group. We believe that CSAO must investigate the torture of all
Montenegrin citizens, such as Bojović, who were exposed to torture in that camp and –
possibly – survived.

Once again, we call on the CSAO to investigate this case effectively, especially in view
of the fact that Tomislav Duić, commander of the Lora Military Investigation Centre, has
already been convicted in earlier cases for the murder and torture of civilians and
prisoners of war from Serbia in Lora.