Bar Association of Belgrade Abuses Public Powers
On January 19th, 2017, the Steering Committee of the Bar Association of Belgrade (BAB) denied the request filed by the former War Crimes Prosecutor, Mr. Vladimir Vukčević, for registration in the Directory of Attorneys-at-Law, assessing that he is unworthy of membership. The Steering Committee of the Bar Association of Belgrade stated that, as the War Crimes Prosecutor, he did not engage in his duty professionally, and also criticized him for allegedly not prosecuting sufficiently the cases in which Serbs were victims and for allegedly allowing the Founder of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), Ms. Nataša Kandić, to take „absolute power in the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor“. The HLC points out that this Decision rendered by the Steering Committee of the BAB in its capacity of public authority is illegal and that such an interpretation of „worthiness“ represents explicit pressure on the current and future representatives of this independent profession.
At a public meeting of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), held in Beška near Inđija on 17 January 2017, members of the above-mentioned party physically attacked activists of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Serbia (YIHR), injuring several of them on that occasion. The attack took place when the YIHR activists unfurled a banner which read, “War criminals should become silent so that the victims can be spoken about!”, thereby stopping the speech of the 