Abazović: We need to turn transitional injustice into transitional justice

"We have witnessed transitional injustice so far. We are a society that closes its eyes to big problems. The issue of war crimes is extremely important for our future and should be taken seriously. That has not been the case so far," said Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazović at the opening of the conference "Transitional Justice as a Mechanism of Progress, Reconciliation and a Condition for EU Accession", organised by the Centre for Civic Education (CCE).

DPM Abazović said that we as a society cannot change our past, but we can change the future. We must all be committed to ensuring that our future is not so burdened by past events.

In order for that to happen, we need to unfold the events that happened in the previous period, which are predominantly related to the war in 1990s, DPM Abazović emphasised.

The Deputy Prime Minister stated that the war crimes do not become obsolete.

When we want to make a reform, it should not be to the detriment of justice, but to the benefit of justice. We can’t sweep things under the rug anymore and pretend nothing happened. Montenegro did not have the capacity to deal with that, and it must try to change such a relationship in the coming period and turn transitional injustice into transitional injustice, said DPM Abazović.

Abazović said that the civil sector has significantly contributed more to the war crimes process than state authorities in the previous period and that he would not like that trend to continue, where the judiciary never talks about it, and the legislative and executive authorities avoid talking about it.

We have to change the discourse a little bit. Maybe someone perceives it as a personal attack because they have a dose of responsibility. In order to have a future that makes sense, we must take the burden of the past off our shoulders. That is the idea of all future reforms, that is the idea of the reform of the Prosecutor's Office. Without these essential reforms and essential indicators, we cannot be a successful country that should be a member of the EU, the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Abazović noted that two negotiating chapters deal with war crimes and that it is an important indicator of our success in the integration process and that citizens should be aware that without resolving the issue of war crimes the state cannot show success and thus its integration path cannot end quickly and in an effective way.

It is important that we send the message that we need to change the current practice, break down the wall of silence and concealment, and that we finally need to turn transitional injustice into transitional justice, said Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazović.

Answering the questions asked, DPM Abazović said that Montenegro should not live in the 1990s and the past, but that it must make a step forward.