CAT/C/29/D/161/2000
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as well as all other objects belonging to the Roma. They hurled explosive devices and
“Molotov” cocktails that they had prepared beforehand, and threw burning cloths and foam
rubbers into houses through the broken windows. Shots and explosions could be heard amid the
sounds of destruction. At the same time, valuables were looted and cattle slaughtered. The
pogrom endured unhindered for hours.
2.8
Throughout the course of this pogrom, police officers present failed to act in accordance
with their legal obligations. Shortly after the attack began, rather than intervening to halt the
violence, these officers simply moved their police car to a safe distance and reported to their
superior officer. As the violence and destruction unfolded, police officers did no more than
feebly seek to persuade some of the attackers to calm down pending a final decision of the
Municipal Assembly with respect to a popular request to evict Roma from the Bozova Glavica
settlement.
2.9
The outcome of the anti-Roma rage was that the whole settlement was levelled and all
properties belonging to its Roma residents burnt or completely destroyed. Although the police
did nothing to halt the destruction of the Roma settlement, they did ensure that the fire did not
spread to any of the surrounding buildings, which belonged to the non-Roma.
2.10 The police and the investigating magistrate of the Basic Court in Danilovgrad
subsequently drew up an on-site investigation report regarding the damage caused by those who
took part in the pogrom.
2.11 Official police documents, as well as statements given by a number of police officers and
other witnesses alike, both before the court and in the initial stage of the investigation, indicate
that the following non-Roma residents of Danilovgrad were among those who took part in the
destruction of the Bozova Glavica Roma settlement: Veselin Popovic, Dragisa Makocevic,
Gojko Popovic, Bosko Mitrovic, Joksim Bobicic, Darko Janjusevic, Vlatko Cacic,
Radojica Makocevic.
2.12 Moreover, there is evidence that police officers Miladin Dragas, Rajko Radulovic,
Dragan Buric, Djordjije Stankovic and Vuk Radovic were all present as the violence unfolded
and did nothing or not enough to protect the Roma residents of Bozova Glavica or their property.
2.13 Several days following the incident, the debris of the Roma settlement was completely
cleared away by heavy construction machines of the Public Utility Company. All traces of the
existence of the Roma in Danilovgrad were obliterated.
2.14 Following the pogrom, and pursuant to the relevant domestic legislation,
on 17 April 1995, the Podgorica Police Department filed a criminal complaint with the Basic
Public Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica. The complaint alleged that a number of unknown
perpetrators had committed the criminal offence of causing public danger under article 164 of
the Montenegrin Criminal Code and, inter alia, explicitly stated that there are “reasonable
grounds to believe that, in an organized manner and by using open flames … they caused a fire
to break out ... on 15 April 1995 … which completely consumed dwellings … and other
propert[ies] belonging to persons who used to reside in … [the Bozova Glavica] settlement”.