War crimes suspect wanted by Croatia arrested in Montenegro

On Friday, the Montenegrin police arrested M. K. (61), who is wanted by the Republic of Croatia for war crimes against prisoners of war, according to a police statement. The portal of the Montenegrin public service RTCG announced that it was Milorad Kovačević.

The Police Directorate of Montenegro said in a statement that Milorad Kovačević was located in the municipality of Zeta, not far from Podgorica, and that after his arrest he was brought before an investigating judge of the High Court in Podgorica for further proceedings.

In the municipality of Zeta, in the village of Bistrica, the Podgorica police located and detained M. K. (61), a citizen of the Republic of Croatia, who is wanted by that country on suspicion of having committed a war crime, according to a statement from the Montenegrin police.

First instance conviction in Croatia

Media in Podgorica remind that in 2019, the Split County Court sentenced Milorad Kovačević, a former lieutenant of the Yugoslav People's Army, in absentia to four years and six months in prison, in a first instance ruling, for a war crime against prisoners of war on October 5, 1991.

As reported by the Croatian media at the time, several Croatian police officers were captured on the Dubrovnik Coast, in the town of Majkovo, and Kovačević, as the commander of a military police platoon, was supposed to take the prisoners to the Bileća camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, during the journey to Bileća, five prisoners of war were abused by reservists.

The truck often stopped to show the prisoners as trophies to the local population, with constant torture and beatings. As a result, the prisoners of war suffered numerous injuries (fractured ribs, spinal injuries, broken arms and legs, skull fractures) and permanent disability, according to the indictment, among other things.

Kovačević was convicted of command responsibility because, as stated in the 2019 verdict of the Split County Court, as an active soldier, a lieutenant in the Yugoslav People’s Army and a platoon commander, he could and should have prevented the abuse. Not only did he fail to do so, but he also supported and encouraged the torture of prisoners of war.

Source: HRT