WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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CREATED BY: ANTENA M – SLOBODNA DALMACIJA - AUTHOR: M.J. GDNUS
The president of the pro-Serbian Montenegrin Democratic People's Party, Milan Knežević, has been attacking Croatia for months, as if Aleksandar Vučić himself was speaking from his mouth. He wants to quarrel the whole of Montenegro with Croatia, it is obvious that together with Chetnik Duke Andrija Mandić he wants to destroy the good relations of his country so far.
He now stated that Croatia demands that "people who were connected to the events in the Morinj camp be punished and prosecuted".
But the most scandalous of all is this sentence:
"No one was beaten there and no one was killed, but they put up a plaque that says that we tortured the Croats...", Knežević said during a guest appearance on Serbian television in the company of Aleksandar Vučić.
Knežević identifies Serbs and Montenegrins, says they are on the same side, and yet Croatia is on the opposite side. Knežević, probably on the orders of Vučić and Serbian forces from Montenegro, wants to destroy the good relations between Montenegro and Croatia.
"Milan Knežević provokes and creates pressure. The man wants to be in the government. Knežević is currently the most loyal mainstream politician in Montenegro to Vučić and Russia. He is seeking a change of symbols and a complete ethno-cartelization of Montenegro. And that is our reality," wrote Ljubomir Filipović, an analyst and columnist for the Montenegrin portal CdM. But let's get back to Morinj. His statement that no one was beaten or died there is a disgusting and heinous lie that Croatia must not forget. A lie from a man who sits in the Montenegrin parliament and is the president of the "Committee for Security and Defense".Radio Free Europe, international and recognized media, writes about that camp:
- The former fishing village of Morinj is located halfway between Kotor and Herceg Novi. During the aggression against Croatia, the former post office building in Morinje housed the prison administration, which was supposed to be used for the interrogation of prisoners of war.
However, during the aggression of the army of the former Yugoslavia (JNA) and Montenegrin reservists on Konavle and Dubrovnik in 1991, Croatian men from that area were brought and imprisoned in that facility. People who stayed in the camp suffered - both psychological and physical torture - writes RSE.
"Witnesses claim that they were beaten daily, forced to fight each other, pull grass, sing Chetnik songs, and some of them were even taken to mock executions," the verdict during the war crimes trial in Morinje in 2012 states.
The camp was established on 3 October 1991, and closed in 1992.
292 prisoners passed through the Morinj camp. According to unofficial information, eight people died as a result of torture.
The trial for Morinj began in 2007, and the Court of Appeal of Montenegro confirmed in April 2014 a conviction of four former JNA reservists for abusing Croatian prisoners in that camp in 1991 and 1992. They were sentenced to two to four years in prison. Montenegrin courts have never prosecuted them for command responsibility.
Montenegrin reservists, as part of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), participated in the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, in attacks led by Slobodan Milošević. It is estimated that around 7,000 reservists were from Montenegro in the attack on Dubrovnik.
Milo Đukanović resigned as Prime Minister in 2000 Montenegro, officially apologized to Croatia for the suffering and losses caused by Montenegrin soldiers, especially in the Dubrovnik area.
In the early 1990s, Montenegro was ruled by the Democratic Party of Socialists of Milo Đukanović.
Former Montenegrin Foreign Minister Đorđe Radulović and Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman were in October 2021. visited the site of the Morinj camp for the first time together.
A documentary about the camp was filmed by Montenegrin author Marko Stojanović.
Who is Milan Knežević, the man who wants to make Montenegro and Croatia quarrel?
Milan Knežević was born in 1980 in Podgorica. On the website Biografija.org he is called a Montenegrin and Serbian writer and politician. He is the president of the Democratic People's Party of Montenegro (DNP) and, together with the Chetnik duke Andrija Mandić, he leads the political alliance Democratic Front. How 'complicated' and inconsistent Knežević is is also evidenced by what comes from a partisan family.
Until 2012, he was a member of the Socialist People's Party (SNP), and in 2014 he formed the Democratic People's Party, which he has led since then. He graduated in Serbian language and South Slavic literature from the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Nikšić. He speaks Russian and English, writes songs.
In mid-2017, Milan Knežević and Andrija Mandić were among the defendants for the alleged coup attempt on election day, October 16 of the previous year. According to the indictment of the Prosecutor's Office, on October 16, 2016, a coup was prevented in Montenegro. impact.
Special State Prosecutor Milivoje Katnić stated that on election night, there was a plan to storm the parliament building, as well as to arrest and liquidate the then Prime Minister Milo Đukanović. According to the indictment, Knežević was responsible for communication between members of the criminal organization and the transmission of messages.
It is specified that he was responsible for acting on the instructions of the organizers and members of the criminal organization, transmitting messages and instructions between members, and maintaining communication with other members who are abroad. As stated in the indictment, the Prosecutor's Office believes that in January 2016, Mandić and Knežević became members of a group formed on the territory of Serbia, Montenegro and Russia by Russian agents Eduard Širokov (Šišmakov) and Vladimir Popov with the aim of violently overthrowing the government in Montenegro. Ivica Stanković, the Supreme State Prosecutor of Montenegro, asked on February 15, 2017, the Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoj Katnić not to order detention of DF MPs Knežević and Mandić. However, a decision in the Parliament of Montenegro lifted their parliamentary immunity because they are suspected of participating in an attempted coup.
Knežević stated that he did not recognize the Court of Montenegro, but, quoting Josip Broz Tito, said that he recognized only the court of his people and his party. At that time, he emphasized that his goal was to “dismantle the story of the so-called coup d’état,” which, in his words, served only to characterize the Democratic Front as a criminal organization, to ban the work of that alliance, and to enable Montenegro’s unhindered entry into NATO.
On May 9, 2019, the Higher Court in Podgorica found him guilty of the attempted coup d’état, and decided to sentence Mandić and Knežević to five years in prison. At a press conference on this occasion, they said that they did not agree to go to prison. Knežević said at the time that “if something happens to them or their families, Milo Đukanović and his brother Aco will be the ones who will be held responsible.”
On February 5, 2021, the Court of Appeal of Montenegro overturned the first-instance verdict sentencing thirteen defendants, including Milan Knežević, to almost 70 years in prison for attempted terrorism. The “Coup d’état” case was returned to the Higher Court in Podgorica for a retrial before a completely changed Trial Chamber.
In Spuž, the Podgorica Basic Court sentenced Knežević to seven months in prison in October 2017 for attacking a police officer because he physically attacked police officer Miljan Marković in front of the Parliament of Montenegro during a protest organized by the Democratic Front on October 17, 2015. However, there were more scandals, encounters with the police, the prosecutor’s office, and everyone remembers the case of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which sought protection of its property. Knežević also stated that the Serbian people in Montenegro were under threat, and he would defend them.
