War Crimes in Prison Camps Still Haunt Montenegro-Croatia Relations

For more than three decades, Radmila Simovic from Montenegrin town of Niksic has been waiting for justice for her husband Ratko, who was killed at the age of 27 in the Croatian Lora military prison in Split in 1992.

Ratko Simovic was one of 14 Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) members from the Montenegrin towns of Niksic and Savnik who were tortured and killed in Croatia in 1992. The remains of 12 of the soldiers were later discovered in mass graves in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but full accountability for their deaths has yet to be established.

“My husband Ratko was not just a name in a case file or a number in a register. He was a man, a husband and part of a family that had its own life, its own plans and its own future. All of that was taken away from us,” Simovic told BIRN.

“Families should not have to spend decades searching for information and reminding institutions that the victims existed... It is the responsibility of the institutions to take action, keep us informed and demonstrate that establishing the truth is their duty, not our endless struggle,” she added.