US citizens convicted of plotting rebellion in Montenegro claim innocence

TUZ, Montenegro, Aug 9 – Two U.S. citizens convicted in Montenegro of plotting an ethnic Albanian rebellion said in an interview last week that they are innocent and they accused Montenegran authorities of torture.
Michigan residents Rrok and Kola Dedvukaj told The Associated Press that the convictions this week in Montenegro of themselves and 15 other ethnic Albanians were a government “setup.”
“I am completely innocent,” Rrok Dedvukaj, 49, said in Tuz, a predominantly ethnic Albanian town east of Podgorica, Montenegro’s capital.
The Dedvukaj cousins and two other U.S. citizens were among those found guilty of planning attacks on state institutions with the aim of carving an autonomous region for minority Albanians in Montenegro.
A Montenegrin court ruled that the group was gathering weapons and preparing for the rebellion under the instructions from their leader, Doda Ljucaj, also a Michigan resident.
They were convicted of committing acts to harm the security of Montenegro and sentenced to prison terms ranging from three months to six-and-a-half years. Rrok and Kola Dedvukaj each received prison terms of three years.
Kola Dedvukaj of Farmington Hills, Michigan, said: “I am not a terrorist.”
“I have a wife, five kids, eight grandkids in America, and I have never been in jail in my life,” the 60-year-old man said.” This was a setup, nothing else,” he claimed.
The plotters were arrested in September 2006, on the eve of a general election in Montenegro and just a few months after the country broke away from a union with much larger Serbia.
Montenegro’s ethnic Albanians make up a small percentage of the republic’s 600,000 people. They live mostly in the eastern parts of the country bordering Kosova and Albania.
While Montenegro’s ethnic Albanians have lived in peace with the authorities, they also have demanded more rights for their community.
The case against the ethnic Albanians in Montenegro has drawn international criticism because of allegations of police torture during the arrests. Montenegro has promised to look into the allegations.
International human rights groups also have demanded that Montenegro deal with the issue.