The 1992 killings at Lora prison
Radmila Simovic from the Montenegrin town of Niksic has spent over three decades waiting for justice after her husband Ratko, age 27, was killed at the Croatian Lora military prison in Split in 1992. I find the failure to establish full accountability for the 14 Yugoslav People’s Army members from the Montenegrin towns of Niksic and Savnik who were tortured and killed in Croatia in 1992 to be a persistent injustice. These victims belonged to the Yugoslav People’s Army from Niksic and Savnik. The 14 soldiers were tortured and killed during the 1992 conflict in Croatia. The remains of 12 of these soldiers were later discovered in mass graves in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I find the fact that 12 of the 14 soldiers were only found in mass graves in Bosnia and Herzegovina while accountability remains missing to be a deep failure of the legal process. The deaths of these soldiers in 1992 remain an open wound for those left behind, and I see no path to closure without accountability.
The burden of seeking truth
The struggle for information remains a decades-long burden for the families today. Radmila Simovic told BIRN her husband was a man, and not "a name in a case file or a number in a register." I find the statement that his life and his family’s future were taken away to be a devastating and painful indictment of the 1992 killings. Simovic also said that families should not have to spend decades "reminding institutions that the victims existed." I observe that the responsibility to keep families informed and to establish the truth has not been met by the relevant institutions. I see no end to the struggle for the families of the 14 JNA members from Niksic and Savnik who are still waiting for accountability regarding the 1992 deaths. The 12 remains found in mass graves in Bosnia and Herzegovina fail to provide the accountability that these grieving families need. The families of the 14 JNA members from Niksic and Savnik continue their long search for answers regarding the deaths of their loved ones in 1992 in the region. I believe that the decades of searching for information is an unnecessary and exhausting burden placed on those who are already suffering.
