MINELRES: Montenegrin Government to Pay 985 000 Euro in Compensation to Pogrom Victims

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: European Roma Rights Center <errc@errc.org>


Montenegrin Government Agrees to Pay 985 000 Euro in Compensation to
Pogrom Victims

In among the most significant Roma rights victories to date, the
Montenegrin Government agreed on 19 June 2003 to pay in compensation 985
000 Euro to 74 Romani victims of the Danilovgrad tragedy - a notorious
1995 pogrom involving mob-violence and the total destruction of an
entire Romani neighborhood. The award follows a decision adopted by the
United Nations Committee against Torture (Committee) on 21 November 2002
expressly finding the Montenegrin authorities in violation of the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment and requesting that they provide the victims
with comprehensive redress, including fair and adequate compensation
(Hajrizi Dzemajl et al. v. Yugoslavia, CAT/C/29/D/161/2000). In the
proceedings before the Committee, the victims were represented jointly
by the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), the Humanitarian Law Center
(HLC) and Dragan Prelevic, an attorney from Podgorica.

On 14 and 15 April 1995, following an alleged rape of a non-Romani girl
by two Romani youths, several hundred non-Roma gathered and, with the
acquiescence of the municipal authorities and the police, destroyed the
Romani settlement in Bozova Glavica, Danilovgrad. The police simply
stood by and did nothing as the pogrom unfolded. The Roma were able to
flee but their homes and other belongings were ultimately burned or
otherwise destroyed. Several days following the incident, the debris of
the Romani settlement was cleared away by heavy construction machines of
the Public Utility Company, thus obliterating all traces of the
existence of Roma in Danilovgrad. In fear for their lives, the
Danilovgrad Roma fled the town and moved to the outskirts of Podgorica
where most still live under terrible conditions and in abject poverty.
Moreover, in the aftermath of 
the incident, several Roma were fired from the jobs they held in
Danilovgrad, under the excuse that they had stopped coming to work. The
fact that they had to leave the town in mortal fear was clearly not
taken into account by their employers. (For further details of the case,
please see http://www.errc.org/rr_nr1-2_2003/legalde1.shtml)

On 19 March 2003, in a written response to the Committee, the
Montenegrin Government expressed its willingness to consider a civil
damages settlement. On 8 May 2003, the ERRC and the HLC sent a joint
letter to Mr. Milo Djukanovic, Prime Minister of the Republic of
Montenegro, expressing concern about the continuing absence of redress
and stressing that a just civil damages settlement must take into
account the gravity of the violations at issue and be based on genuine
respect for human rights. On 19 June 2003, the Montenegrin Government
adopted a decision to pay 985 000 Euro in compensation, including costs,
to the 74 Romani victims of the Danilovgrad pogrom.

The ERRC and the HLC welcome this decision and recognize in it an
affirmation of the Government's commitment to justice and the rule of
law. According to ERRC Senior Staff Attorney Branimir Plese, who was
involved in the litigation, "The decision restores dignity of the
victims of this terrible crime. In addition, this case must also serve
as an example to other countries in the region where numerous Romani
victims are yet to obtain redress for abuse suffered".

_____________________________________________

The European Roma Rights Center is an international public interest law
organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal
defence in cases of human rights abuse. For more information about the
European Roma Rights Center, visit the ERRC on the web at
http://www.errc.org.

European Roma Rights Center
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P.O. Box 906/93
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Phone: +36 1 4132200
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