Posts Written By: hlcadmin

“Depth two” video collage

“Depth two” video collage

Depth twoFrom February until June 2016 over 700 citizens of Serbia and Kosovo saw the documentary film “Depth Two”. The film was aired in Kragujevac, Čačak, Subotica, Pančevo, Belgrade, Novi Pazar, Niš, as well as in Pristina in Kosovo. Every screening was followed by a discussion with the authors, in which victims and their families, civil society activists, students, journalists, artists and other experts from various fields participated. This short video collage highlights some of the discussion moments and messages of citizens of Serbia and Kosovo to their compatriots and representatives of institutions.

The film, a co-production of HLC and Non Aligned Films, premiered at the 66th International film festival in Berlin (Berlinale) in February 2016, and was subsequently shown at festivals in Thessaloniki, Wiesbaden, Belgrade, Novi Sad and London.
It won the Award for Best Film Editing at the Beldocs International documentary film festival in Belgrade, and the Grand Jury Award at the Open City festival in London. In late July 2016 the film won the Critics Award at the Atlántida Film Fest in Spain.
The film is a part of the Batajnica Memorial Initiative, aimed at creating a memorial site for victims found in Batajnica.

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Ministry of Defence withholding information on active-duty members of Army of Serbia indicted of war crimes

Ministry of Defence withholding information on active-duty members of Army of Serbia indicted of war crimes

Ministarstvo odbrane

On 18 July 2016, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection (Commissioner) sent a request to the Government of the Republic of Serbia to ensure the execution of his decision of May 2014, which ordered the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to provide the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) with information as to whether two officers of the Army of Serbia (VS) – Pavle Gavrilović and Rajko Kozlina – remained in active service after an indictment was raised against them for a war crime. The HLC believes that complying with the request of the Commissioner and ordering the MoD to communicate the information requested should be a priority for the Government, in order to make it clear that state authorities may not violate the public’s right to know the facts about past crimes and the role played by the state in these crimes, especially where people who are still in the public office have been involved in them.

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The thirteenth issue of the Bulletin “through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE”

The thirteenth issue of the Bulletin “through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE”

bilten_engThe new issue of the through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE bulletin brings an interview with the Regional Cooperation Council’s Secretary General Mr. Goran Svilanović, and the analysis of the victims’ rights in Serbia provided by Humanitarian Law Center’s Legal Analyst Mr. Relja Radosavljević.

The News section highlights current developments in the areas of transitional justice and Serbia’s EU integration process, and the War Crimes Trials section offers an overview of recently held trials and rulings delivered.

Send us your opinions and comments on the newsletter and/or the topics discussed to the e-mail address towardsJUSTICE@hlc-rdc.org. Discussion is also welcome on Twitter/#towardsJUSTICE.

Download your copy of the bulletin here.

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Office of Public Prosecutor Instrumental in Shielding Government Institutions from Responsibility: Claims against Commissioner for Information of Public Importance

Office of Public Prosecutor Instrumental in Shielding Government Institutions from Responsibility: Claims against Commissioner for Information of Public Importance

Vojni arhivIn April and May 2016, the Office of the State Public Prosecutor (SPP) lodged two claims with the Administrative Court seeking the annulment of the decisions of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection (Commissioner), by which the Commissioner had ordered the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to provide the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) information of public importance concerning the professional engagement of two officers of the Yugoslav Army (VJ) during the Kosovo conflict. The HLC considers that the SPP has abused its legal powers in order to shield individuals and institutions from responsibility for past crimes to the detriment of the public’s right to know, and that these claims constitute in effect an open attack on the office of the Commissioner.

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