Centre for Civic Education (CGO), as part of its edition on transitional justice processes in Montenegro, has published a document compilation on the court case known as “The Klapuh Family,” which addresses the brutal murder of three members of the Klapuh family – Hasan, Ferida, and their daughter Sena – on 6 July 1992 on the “Obrad Cicmil” bridge in Plužine, located between the Piva hydroelectric dam and the Šćepan Polje border crossing.
This is the fifth publication in this series, following earlier releases on cases such as “Morinj”, “Bukovica”, “Kaluđerski laz” and “Deportation”.
In addition to court records, including procedural documents, this publication contains various supplementary materials offering insight into numerous details of this crime. The Klapuh family from Foča paid acquaintances, members of the special unit “Dragan Nikolić” of the Army of Republika Srpska, to safely transport them to Montenegro to escape war-torn territory. Shortly after crossing the border, members of this unit took Hasan Klapuh, executed him, and threw his body off the bridge. They then severely wounded his wife, Ferida, and daughter, Sena, and threw them into the Piva River. Forensic experts determined that two of them died later from their gunshot wounds and injuries sustained from falling into the ravine.
Their bodies were discovered the following day by a road worker. Montenegrin police swiftly identified the suspects using records from the border crossing, and an indictment was filed in February 1993. At the time, the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office charged Janko Janjić, Zoran Simović, Zoran Vuković, Radomir Kovač, and Vidoje Golubović as co-perpetrators of war crimes against the civilian population. Radomir Kovač’s brother, Milomir, was not included in the indictment as he committed suicide shortly after the crime. The Higher Court in Podgorica sentenced all the accused to 20 years in prison for murder, except Golubović, who received an eight-month sentence for failing to report the crime. In 1995, the Supreme Court returned the case for retrial, which concluded with a final verdict in 1997. The sentences remained unchanged, though the legal qualification of the crime was revised, acknowledging it as a war crime. This was the first final verdict for war crimes in Montenegro.
Only Vidoje Golubović, who was available to judicial authorities during the first-instance trial, served his sentence while in pretrial detention, whereas the other convicted individuals evaded justice. Janko Janjić died in 2000 during an SFOR operation when he was fatally injured during an attempted arrest. The remaining convicted individuals are still not accessible to Montenegrin judicial authorities, nor is there any indication that they will serve their sentences, given that the bilateral agreement between Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina does not allow for their extradition or the transfer of sentence execution.
By documenting these authentic records, the CCE aims to provide researchers, media professionals, legal practitioners, and all interested citizens with a deeper insight into the details of this crime and the facts established during the proceedings, which is contributing to a more thorough analysis of shortcomings and the development of more constructive institutional and societal practices in facing the past.
This publication is part of CCE’s project “Education for the Future – Transitional Justice for Reconciliation,” implemented within the regional EU-funded programme Support to Confidence Building in the Western Balkans, financed by the European Union and carried out by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of CCE and does not necessarily reflect the views of the EU or UNDP.
Damir Suljević, Human Rights Programme Coordinator