Posts Written By: hlcadmin

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Presentation of the Report „Circumventing Justice: The Statute of Limitations as a Mechanism for Denying War Victims the Right to Compensation

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Presentation of the Report „Circumventing Justice: The Statute of Limitations as a Mechanism for Denying War Victims the Right to Compensation

zaobilazenje_pravde-enOn Thursday, 28 June 2018, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) will present its report „Circumventing Justice: The Statute of Limitations as a Mechanism for Denying War Victims the Right to Compensation”. The presentation will take place at 12:00 in the Great Hall of the Media Centre. The Report analyses the practice of domestic courts in proceedings for the compensation of damages which occurred as a consequence of past human rights violations.

It can be observed that the domestic courts tend to apply restrictively the provisions concerning the effects of the statute of limitations on claims for damages, and that there is no consistent judicial practice in this regard, to assist in the interpretation of the legal provisions concerning the statute of limitations for such claims, with the result that the victims of past human rights violations are deprived of the right to compensation, with the explanation that the legally prescribed deadline for such claims has expired. Such an arbitrary application of the legal provisions which should regulate the statute of limitations in regard of damage claims, which is detrimental for the victims, has rendered a great number of victims deprived of their right to compensation by the Republic of Serbia, which is responsible for the damage done.

The HLC’s rich practice emerging from the civil suits which it has conducted against the Republic of Serbia on behalf of the victims, represents the basis for the Report. The Report elaborates the basic problems noted in the civil proceedings concerning damages before the domestic courts, the HLC’s experience in the representation of victims in the said proceedings, and the comparative practice of the successor countries of the former Yugoslavia in proceedings concerning compensation for damages.

The following people will discuss the findings of the Report:

  1. Ivana Žanić, the HLC Legal Team Coordinator
  2. Mihailo Pavlović, author of the Report
  3. Senad Jusufbegović, Association of the Concentration-camp Detainees in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Simultaneous interpretation into English will be provided.

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Jović: The war in Yugoslavia was a war against minorities

Jović: The war in Yugoslavia was a war against minorities

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On June 15, 2018, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) presented its tenth Dossier: “The JNA in the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina“. As the most extensive so far, this Dossier has been covering the period from the end of the 1980s up to May 1992. It explores how the JNA and the political leadership of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and of Serbia prepared for the wars, the JNA’s involvement in the conflicts, and its contribution to achieving the wartime goals of Serbia, the Republic of Serbian Krajina and Republika Srpska.

Nemanja Stjepanović from the HLC said that the goal of the Dossier was to point to the crimes committed during the armed conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to the responsibility of the perpetrators and initiators, as well as to place these events in a wider historical context for a better understanding of them. The Dossier illuminates the process of the restructuration of the JNA from the Yugoslav into the Serbian army, its transformation as the focus of its activities changed, the alterations of national structures within the JNA, and, finally, the partiality it showed in dedicating itself to the goal of “defending the Serb people”. A survey the HLC conducted, presented within this Dossier, showed that “defence” was reduced exclusively to the conquest of the territory.

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Serbia Restarts Lovas War Crimes Trial from Beginning

Serbia Restarts Lovas War Crimes Trial from Beginning

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A Serbian court restarted the trial for the killing of 70 Croatian civilians in the village of Lovas in 1991 on a technicality because the war crimes prosecutor’s office did not have a chief prosecutor for a year-and-a-half.

Belgrade Higher Court decided on Thursday to restart the Lovas trial because of previous decisions by an appeals court, ruling that the deputy war crime prosecutors did not have the right to act on behalf of the prosecutor’s office while the chief prosecutor’s seat was vacant.

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Dossier: The JNA in the Wars in Croatia and BiH

Dossier: The JNA in the Wars in Croatia and BiH

JNA_u_ratovima-enThe role of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) in the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and its transformation from the Yugoslav into the Serbian army, is the subject of this, the tenth Dossier of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC). It is the most extensive of the HLC Dossiers so far, covering the period from the end of the 1980s up to May 1992. It explores how the JNA and political leadership of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and Serbia prepared for the wars, the JNA’s involvement in the conflicts, and its contribution to achieving the wartime goals of Serbia, the Republic of Serbian Krajina and Republika Srpska.

The introduction section of the Dossier presents facts about the development of the crisis in the former Yugoslavia and the steps undertaken by the leadership of the Republic of Serbia, headed by Slobodan Milosevic, to take control of the JNA, with a view to using it for achieving their own wartime goals. After that, the Dossier presents the role of the JNA in the war in Croatia, and in the BiH.

In each of the examples given of the JNA’s military involvement in Croatia and BiH, the pattern of attacks is described and the JNA units that took part in them are listed. Also, evidence on the identity of the perpetrators of crimes committed during the attacks, whether they were JNA members or members of Serb formations who participated in the actions alongside the JNA, is presented.

The Dossier also presents evidence on the JNA’s role in arming Serb formations in Croatia and BiH in the lead-up to the conflicts, and on the assistance and support it provided to Serb militaries in Croatia and BIH after having formally withdrawn from these republics.

Some of the examples given, which are substantiated by military documents, make clear that after a decision was issued on JNA’s formal withdrawal from BiH in May 1992, its units  remaining behind in BiH were simply renamed, to become units of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS). The VRS retained the command structure of the JNA and its manpower, and took possession of its weaponry. This gave the newly established army of the Bosnian Serbs a head start over all other armed formations in BiH.

The Dossier: The JNA in the Wars in Croatia and BiH is available here.

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In the end of EULEX’s executive mandate: contribution undisputed, expectations not met

In the end of EULEX’s executive mandate: contribution undisputed, expectations not met

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On 14 June 2018, European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) finally ended its then mandate and it no longer has competences and executive powers in Kosovo judicial system, which it enjoyed for almost ten years. EULEX used to be the biggest and most expensive civilian mission of this kind established by the European Union (EU) in any country. According to EU Council Decision of 8 June 2018, EULEX will still remain in Kosovo, until 2020, but it will have a new mandate which will include monitoring and advising judiciary, Correctional Service, as well as support to the Specialized Court and to implementation of agreements reached in the dialogue on normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

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