Podgorica, (MINA) - The State Prosecutor’s Office of Montenegro has made significant progress in prosecuting war crimes, especially by strengthening cooperation with the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, as well as bilateral cooperation with prosecutors’ offices from the region, said Supreme State Prosecutor Milorad Markovic.

The Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office announced that Markovic and Chief Special Prosecutor Vladimir Novovic participated in the regional conference of prosecutors on war crimes prosecution cooperation held in Brioni, Croatia.

Markovic pointed out that the State Prosecutor’s Office of Montenegro has made significant progress in the prosecution of war crimes, especially through the improvement of cooperation with the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts, as well as bilateral cooperation with prosecutors’ offices from the region.

“Concrete steps have been taken to improve the existing Agreement on Cooperation in the Prosecution of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide, signed with the State Prosecutor’s Office of Croatia in 2006”, said Markovic.

He emphasized that, despite challenges, such as the passage of time and limited resources of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office (SPO), concrete results have been achieved in the prosecution of war crimes through direct communication among regional prosecutors.

“Montenegro’s progress in this area was also recognized by the European Commission (EC), which stated that the country is building a credible and sustainable track record in processing complex war crimes cases”, added Markovic.